After Dark
by Mieren
Summary: How much is known about the colonies or the pilots? What about the scientists they serve?
1. I

After Dark

Part I

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Duo watched closely as his target entered a nearby nightclub and scowled to himself. Trust his orders to have him following an absolute pervert. There was no way he could get into that nightclub through the front door and sneaking in might cause him to lose track of his target. If nothing else, he would have to hide among the crowds and risk someone questioning his age.

Deciding it was the best he could do, he circled the building, looking for a fire escape in back. Naturally, there wasn't one. The only other opening of any sort was a small window outside of either bathroom for ventilation. His eyes roved over the tiny opening and he huffed irately. He knew he was slender, but that was ridiculous. He'd be lucky to get one leg in, let alone his entire body. Growling something obscene under his breath, he circled back to the front. He was going to have to do this the hard way.

He leaned back against a nearby building and waited for the stragglers to disperse, leaving the bouncer at the entrance alone in the dark street. Putting on his best grin, he sauntered over and acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary as he walked by. If all went well, the man wouldn't even look at him. If things didn't go well, he'd just have to knock the bouncer's head against the wall a few times and go in anyways.

"Can I see your ID?"

Duo didn't even flinch at the expected question, instead answering with a roundhouse kick that connected solidly with the much larger man's head. The bouncer staggered at the blow and stepped back, blinking questioningly at the smaller boy in front of him. Duo suddenly realized that perhaps that hadn't been the brightest move in the world. The man was easily half again his height and at least three times his weight in solid muscle. Even worse, the blow hadn't done more than piss him off. To his utter shock, the man began to laugh.

"That young, huh?" he chuckled. Duo began to bristle and considered a more damaging attack when he continued. "Go on in. But if you get caught, it's you, not me, that'll be screwed."

Duo's good nature returned immediately and he flashed his brightest grin at the bouncer before sauntering in after his target.

"Hey, thanks man," he called over his shoulder. He glanced back when he didn't get a response, shocked that the street was now completely empty. A chill ran up his spine. Not only was that man strong, but he was fast and completely silent. "I'm beginning to get the creeps about this place," he muttered to himself.

He stepped into the nightclub to see that it was just a small room with small offices around a single stairwell in the center of the walkway. He paused, uneasy. There was no one here. That feeling was amplified a thousand times when he edged down the stairs and stepped into the milling masses within the deceptively large nightclub. The place was an absolute labyrinth! It extended at least several city blocks in every direction, the staircase letting out in what appeared to be the dead center of the place. Even worse, every person here seemed to possess his habit of wearing nothing but black. He almost turned around and charged back up the stairs.

He steeled his nerves and moved forward purposefully, trying his best to ignore the hungry looks thrown in his direction. Some of the women were eyeing him with clear interest, as were a number of the men. He blushed slightly and began to move faster. Some of these people were old enough to be his grandparents!

A familiar head of shoulder-length purple hair appeared over the crowds just a short distance from him and he let out a sigh of relief. He could finish his mission and get out of here. When he was only a few feet away, he reached for his gun, thankful that he had had the foresight to bring the silencer, and swore softly when his mark moved out of his range. Stowing the gun back under his jacket, he continued pursuit.

A strong grip pulled him to a stop. Shocked and more than slightly nervous, he turned to look at the young man holding his arm, perhaps three years his senior. Pale blond hair hung to his waist, unbound, accenting his slender frame. An angular face behind the pale locks was a sharp contrast, so pale that it made his hair seem dark. It was as though he had never seen the sun. His eyes, however, were what unnerved Duo. They were so dark they were almost black. He decided it had to be a trick of the light, colored contacts or bleached hair. There was absolutely no way that coloration existed naturally. Even worse, those impossibly dark eyes were studying him with an interest that made him decidedly uneasy.

"Excuse me," Duo began before his admirer could open his mouth. "I'm with that guy." He waved one hand towards the man he was following. The dark-eyed blond peered disinterestedly towards the man in question. He suddenly stiffened and stepped back nervously.

"Pardon my boldness," he said softly, still backing away. "I didn't know." With that, he disappeared into the crowds.

After that simple declaration, Duo noticed that it was almost pathetically easy to get through the milling throng. News seemed to spread more quickly than he would have thought possible about who he was with and the crowd seemed to make an actual effort not to get in his way. Duo shivered, wondering who exactly he was chasing. This wasn't the first time he had been sent on a dangerous mission, and by all reasonable standards, this should have been a simple one. All he knew was that this man was doing something that had gotten him tagged for extermination and that was all he needed to know.

He spotted his target again almost a mile from where he had started. The lighting in this section was poor at best and the people in this area made the youth he had spoken to look like a saint. The shoulder-length purple hair with perfectly even ends made him pause again. He couldn't say why, but the color and style just didn't look natural. He eyed the dark clothes and cloak, wondering why he was the one person not wearing solid black. The pale shirt stood out horribly in the darkness. It made him easier to identify, but anyone with two brain cells to rub together would realize that it made him a perfect target. Duo circled to a deeper section of shadows within the area and froze when he ran into something from behind.

He spun easily, almost laughing at his own stupidity when he realized he had backed into a wall. The underground club had to end somewhere, after all. Keeping himself fully hidden in the darkness he had found, he pulled his gun from his jacket for a second time and carefully took aim. The purple-haired man laughed at some joke his companion had told, completely unaware of the danger. Hesitating only long enough to make sure his aim was true, Duo gently squeezed the trigger, his gun issuing a small hiss through the silencer.

The purple-haired man continued to talk to his companion, neither hearing nor feeling the shot. Duo gaped. Had he missed? He dropped his aim from the man's temple to his chest. A shot any novice could make, but the embarrassment didn't bother him. He probably wouldn't have the opportunity to make a third try. Locking his aim just to the left side of his sternum, he pulled the trigger again. The man continued to talk to his friend, still unharmed.

"Are these blanks or what?" Duo muttered under his breath, pulling the trigger three more times in rapid succession. Still nothing.

"Sir," a voice came in his ear.

Duo jumped and tried to spin to face whoever was at his side, but a firm grip on his arm stopped him. Strong hands peeled his fingers away from his gun and the weapon was pocketed by the figure in the shadows beside him. He jerked in the grip and tried to escape, but the figure held on with enough force to break his arm. The man could have put Heero to shame. He managed to squint in the darkness just enough to make out the enormous form of the bouncer he had kicked earlier. His jaw dropped and he tried to think of something to say to get him out of this mess but was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice in front of him.

"Trying to kill me, eh?"

Unbidden, Duo's eyes traveled from the bouncer to the purple-haired man who had approached while he had been distracted. He found himself looking into unearthly violet eyes so much like his own and had to suppress the urge to shudder at the sight of the elongated pupils. Instead, he put on his best poker face and snapped his jaw shut. He knew when he was captured and had been trained not to say a word in such a circumstance.

"Who put you up to it?" the man tried again, a mock smile forming on his hard features. Duo remained silent and he sighed. "Take him to one of the rooms. I'll join you in a moment."

"Yes, sir," the bouncer said. He tugged on Duo's arm meaningfully and started moving towards a door that Duo hadn't seen previously.

Duo shifted slightly, testing the grip as the man paused to open the door. With one almighty jerk, he tried to wrench free, trusting his training to give him the strength to get away. His shock was complete when the man didn't have to strain to keep him in check, merely twisting his arm to a new angle. A sickening pop echoed through the air and Duo had to fight to remain conscious as he was dragged into the room by a dislocated shoulder. The bouncer threw him to the floor and turned to stand by the only door to the room to make sure that Duo didn't try to escape.

_Not that I'm in any shape to try_, Duo thought wryly, twisting to a sitting position. He pulled his right arm into his lap and tried to assess the damage to his shoulder. Perhaps he should try Heero's trick and just snap it back into socket himself. He was busy aligning it when a shadow blocked the meager light in the room. Wincing, he looked up to see the purple-haired man standing by the single lamp in the room on an antique oak table. Seeing the set look on the pale features, he resumed his poker face.

"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" he asked, reaching down.

It took every once of Duo's willpower not to flinch away as the slender fingers closed around his right forearm. He locked his jaw but made no sound or attempt to move as he was hauled into the air by his right arm, all of his weight resting on his dislocated shoulder. A slender eyebrow raised at his refusal to fight back in any way other than his stoic silence. Duo simply stared back, his violet eyes never leaving the eerie, almost felid, gaze.

Shrugging, the purple-haired man dropped him. Duo landed silently on his feet but made no further movement. His conviction not to cry out almost vanished when the bouncer twisted his arms behind him to hold him upright and still. He managed to quell his reaction to a slight twitch of one eye. Inside, he was howling in agony. With his arm at such an angle, his humorous was pressing at the flesh of his inner arm, the head of the bone threatening to break through the muscle and skin. A strange bulge could be seen through the cloth of his jacket.

It was that bulge that caught the attention of the purple-haired man. His narrow amethyst eyes widened to their fullest extent and he moved forward to inspect the strange lump. A wry grin appeared on his pale face.

"Impressive. Even though you're hurt, you refuse to cry out." He pressed one hand firmly against the bulge in Duo's shoulder, only causing the pilot to tighten his jaw slightly. "A fully trained assassin," he commented, an impressed tone entering his voice. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you."

Duo stiffened slightly at the words but gave no other indication that he had heard them. In his mind, though, every vulgarity and expletive he had ever learned was running in a loop. He could handle torture, but he most definitely didn't enjoy it, and unlike Heero, he would eventually end up crying out. Since he figured he was royally screwed no matter what, he decided to go out fighting.

He paused for an instant only before doing anything, trying to gauge the man in front of him. If he threatened to do harm, it would just result in laughter or a tightened grip on his arm. A direct order not to touch his shoulder would result in a tighter grip and his target backing away. Under threat of torture, no one told their captor how to hurt them. His mark seemed intelligent and Duo was sure that he would catch that kind of comment. However, the man, for all of his strange garb, seemed rich and well educated. For all of that, he must have developed manners of a sort over his years and might become offended if Duo carefully watched his words.

_Now then,_ he thought. _How would I go about pissing off Quatre?_

"Fucking pervert," Duo muttered under his breath, his comment only falling a second or two after mention of breaking him. He was certain that his captors would both hear him and hoped that, like little blond Quatre, they would be horrendously offended by his profanity. On a good day, he could almost match Wufei, and in the midst of their more heated arguments, Quatre would eventually do them both bodily harm.

The purple-haired man's eyes narrowed to slits once more before closing altogether. For a moment, Duo believed that he was trying to keep his temper in check before realizing that the man was smiling. A genuine, if twisted, smile shone from the pale face and Duo wondered how badly he had misjudged his captor.

"You're so cute," he said, causing Duo to stiffen further. "Thinking that we would break you in such a crude manner." He reached for Duo's face with one hand and pulled the violet gaze up to his own.

As he opened his mouth to say something, Duo went to work. Though his plan had not worked exactly as he had intended, he was still in range. Steeling his nerves, he dropped his weight onto his arms and kicked his legs forward, wrapping his heavily muscled limbs around the pale throat before him. The man holding him cried out and tried to pull back, but he wasn't quite fast enough to stop Duo's legs from twisting once sharply. A loud crack filled the small room.

The thud of his target hitting the floor barely registered in Duo's mind before a cluster of sickening cracks and crunches filled his ears. Another thud quickly followed the first and he realized with a sickening feeling that he had just dropped to the floor after being thrown into a stone wall. Red filled his vision as blood flowed across his eyes from some head wound that he had incurred.

_This is bad,_ he thought grimly. _I can't feel any pain._ He tried to reach up to see how badly he was bleeding only to come to a horrible discovery. _Oh God, I can't move. My neck is broken._

Panicking, he shifted his eyes from the growing pool of blood on the floor to the bouncer standing beside the man who shared his fate. The limp figure on the floor shuddered once before unsteadily rising. Duo's eyes widened in anger and helplessness. That was impossible!

Another realization raged through his stunned mind as the pale man came over to him. There were four bullet holes in his clothes and a small smear of red on his temple. Duo sucked a breath in through his teeth. He hadn't missed. He was dealing with someone who could probably beat one of their gundams into the ground and even worse, he no longer seemed amused.

"So," he said lightly. "Still alive are you?" Duo tried to draw back from the cold voice, but was once again reminded that he couldn't. The infernal smile returned to his target's face. "Incredible. Most people would have been dead after a blow like that. But you… you took the full force of Kentaro's throw and you're still breathing."

_Yeah, but little more than that,_ Duo admitted to himself in defeat. He should have expected the bouncer to try to ricochet him off of the wall. He winced again with his next breath, not liking the rattling sound it produced in his throat. One of his lungs had collapsed and he had no doubt that there was much more serious damage than that. Most of the blood running across the floor was not from his head.

"Tell me," his captor continued easily, not seeming to notice the red puddle spreading across the floor and covering his expensive shoes. "Who exactly trained you and why am I a target?"

Duo opened his mouth to let out a scathing comment, but succeeded only in a hoarse gasp. He was unable to even speak. In a last show of defiance, he looked elsewhere in a blatant dismissal of the question and managed a somewhat derisive huff. His belligerent attitude evaporated in an instant when his redirected vision focused his eyes onto the back of his legs. Realization slammed home of how bad the damage was from that single blow. His head had been twisted completely backwards. His back was folded at a ninety-degree angle and from this angle, he could see the source of the bleeding. Part of his hipbone and a good number of his ribs were showing through the torn fabric of his mutilated clothes.

"Oh? Finally noticed?" he asked casually. Duo's only response was to glare at him in utmost loathing.

The purple-haired man began searching through his robes for something, muttering happily to himself as he raided various pockets. Finally, he pulled out a single syringe and a small medical bottle filled with some sort of yellow tinted liquid. He hummed some obscure cheerful tune as he filled the needle and pulled out one of Duo's arms, making absolutely sure to keep what he was doing within Duo's line of vision. Still humming aimlessly, he carefully slipped the needle into the vein near his elbow and injected the yellowish gunk into his arm.

"Kentaro," he said happily, tossing the spent syringe to the side. "Take him outside and ditch him somewhere where he can contact his friends."

Duo raised his eyes to the extremely large bouncer as he approached, wishing he could make a run for it. Something in the shot had caused his entire body to start shivering, broken neck or no. He could see the thick-fingered hand bury itself in the back of his shirt just before he was lifted off of the floor like a sack of grain. His head flopped around with the upwards jerk and he could hear the loud pop as his back fell into some semblance of alignment. He was thrown roughly over one broad shoulder and more cracks filled his ears, making him grateful that he couldn't feel anything.

"Oh, and boy," the amused voice called out. "If you happen to survive, I'd like to speak with you. You're simply too amusing of a person to not meet again. If you come back this way, just ask for me. I'm sure you already know me since I was your mark, but for the sake of formality, my name is Xellos."

Duo could only glare alternately at the small of Kentaro's back and his braid dragging on the ground as he was carried back towards the staircase in the center of the underground labyrinth. The blood running from the wounds in his back soaked his braid, leaving a red line on the floor as he was hauled away. Several of the black clad people in the club stared curiously at him and his dragging braid. One was even so bold as to throw something at his head. The bouncer immediately turned and the offender scurried away. After that, the crowds parted more easily for the man carrying him.

They reached the staircase after only a few minutes of walking. By this time, Duo was on fire. Whether it was from shock, blood loss or the drug, he didn't know, but his entire body burned and his vision spun. He was barely aware that they had left the stairs and were headed steadily down a deserted street. His vision cleared slightly when they came to a sudden stop and he was deposited roughly onto the ground. He assumed he was leaning against something since he didn't flop backwards.

He blinked and rolled his eyes upwards when a thick hand pushed something cold between his head and shoulder. Several soft beeps filled the air and he saw the bouncer walk off, leaving him. Suddenly, a voice sounded in his ear.

"You have reached Japan's national directory. How may I direct your call?"

_A phone booth. He left me in a phone booth,_ Duo thought blankly, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He couldn't speak. Afraid that the operator would hang up, he tried to say something that would help him.

"W-winner res-residence Tokyo," he croaked. _Oh, please let her understand._

"Your name?"

"Duo Maxwell," he grated out. His throat screamed from the misuse, but he forced himself to keep his voice at an audible level.

"One moment, please."

He heard the click as the operator transferred him and silently prayed that the blond would be home. Several tense moments passed while the phone rang.

"Winner residence, Quatre speaking."

Duo wanted to cry out in relief but decided that it was useless to waste that much energy. Taking as deep a breath as his battered lungs would allow, he once again forced his shredded throat to work.

"Q-Quatre."

"Duo? Is that you? How'd you're mission go?" he asked happily, mistaking the stammer for weariness.

"Need help… hurt bad, Quatre," he forced.

"Duo? What happened? Where are you?" the blond asked, a note of fear entering his normally cheery voice.

"Don't… know."

"Don't worry. Heero's already tracing the call. We'll be there in a minute, okay?" he said in a rush. "Duo? You still there? DUO!"

Duo tried to answer, but couldn't. His already shredded throat rebelled against further abuse and had shut down entirely. The frantic cries sounding in his ear began to blur with his vision, both fading out completely after a few seconds. All he knew was the pain in his neck and the raging fever that had engulfed him. Awareness of time fled from his waking mind as blackness took over.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Ooh! I started writing on this fic again! You'll never guess what I finally decided to do with it. But feel free to guess as the fic progresses. I'll have fun with that. I may even use some of the ideas I like. I've done it with other fics.


	2. II

After Dark

Part II

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Quatre dropped the phone in his hands, unaware that it bounced off of his left foot. He turned blankly to Heero, who was typing feverishly on his laptop.

"Got it," Heero said before the blond could open his mouth. He was out of his chair and through the door before the others registered he was leaving. Wufei was the first to recover and follow. Trowa paused long enough to grab Quatre's arm and haul him along. They barely made it into the car before Heero sped off.

No one dared to speak as the Japanese boy broke every traffic law known to man in an attempt to reach Duo faster. He was the first out of the car after sending it skidding to a stop only inches away from crashing into a nondescript phone booth. He jerked the door open and stepped back, horror appearing on his usually emotionless face. Wufei took one glance at what had shocked him before freezing in place. Trowa looked like he was going to be sick. Quatre would have passed out had the brunette not caught him.

Inside of the phone booth was a scene that would haunt them in nightmares for the rest of their lives. Duo lay slouched in a corner, his head lying at an unnatural angle over a bloodied phone and his right arm pulled almost completely free from his body. The left side of his face was swollen and discolored, his cheek caved in and skin peeled back in numerous places deep enough to show bone. His chest had caved in on both sides, many ribs protruding from beneath his jacket. His right knee was bent in the wrong direction, as was his left elbow. The angle of his slumped posture gave away the break in mid-back. From head to foot, he was soaked in blood and a huge puddle of crimson surrounded him as well.

This time it was Wufei who came to his senses first. The Chinese boy moved forward uneasily and gently lifted the ragged form into his arms. Quatre snapped out of his shock at the movement.

"We shouldn't move him," he said weakly.

"He's already been moved," Wufei countered, circling towards the car. Trowa scrambled to open the door for him so he wouldn't have to jostle his cargo. "There's no way he could have gotten here or dialed the phone by himself. Besides, right now we need to get him to the doctors at your mansion."

At Wufei's last statement, the tension in the air visibly decreased. Duo was still alive, for the moment.

Quatre only nodded slowly, unmoving. Heero was already behind the wheel before Wufei and Trowa managed to maneuver the bloodied American into the back. Trowa actually had to pull the almost catatonic blond to the car, where the two of them piled into the front seat for fear of crowding Duo and Wufei in the back. On the way back, Heero drove at the same fanatical speeds, but this time was wary of sharp corners or sudden stops.

After a few minutes on the road, Trowa pilfered Quatre's cell phone and called ahead to warn the staff what they were bringing in. A small army was waiting outside when they pulled up, stretcher and almost a dozen surgeons standing by. Between them, they had Duo out of the car and out of sight within a matter of seconds, leaving behind four dazed pilots covered in blood.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Fourteen hours passed without word from the doctors. Quatre kept himself busy pacing his mansion, circling the hallways endlessly with absolutely no idea where he was going. Trowa appeared to be in a coma, his eyes locked on some interesting point on the wall that only he could see. Wufei occupied himself by scaring the life out of the servants with a patented glare of death normally only used by Heero. The only one seeming to be carrying on as normal was Heero, who was typing away at his laptop. Wufei exploded at his behavior once before learning that the Japanese pilot was trying to hack into the main system to learn where Duo had been sent. Their superiors had apparently devised a failsafe system that even he couldn't hack into, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. When he found out where Duo had gone, who had hurt him, there would be hell to pay. As it was, there was imminent danger of Heero taking out a better part of the country.

Pacing, vacant staring and typing all came to sudden halts when a surgeon finally wandered into the main room. He flopped into one of the armchairs in the room and took a breath to steady himself before announcing anything to the four impatient pilots.

"At the moment, he's alive," he began, waiting for the news to sink in. Heero didn't realize that he was looming over the doctor until he calmed down enough to understand that his best friend wasn't dead yet. Out of immediate danger from the deranged pilot, the surgeon continued. "Both his neck and back are broken badly. If he pulls through, he'll be a quadriplegic. All of his ribs were shattered. Something hit him with enough force to punch a hole in one of the gundams. Both of his lungs were punctured numerous times and had collapsed. His heart had a rib through it as well. It's a miracle that he made it back here. The left side of his skull was crushed and his jaw dislocated. As for the less serious things, we had to remove one kidney and most of his liver. They were crushed too badly to save. His right arm was dislocated and so roughly handled afterwards that we were lucky to be able to reattach it. His right knee and left arm are broken and his right hip dislocated. Whoever did this was strong and if I'm not mistaken, did it in only one or two blows."

"Impossible," Heero snapped.

"What it looks like," the surgeon continued as though he hadn't been interrupted. "Is that someone threw him with his right arm, causing the dislocation there, and slammed him into a wall or the ground two, maybe three, times. He might have been able to defend himself if he hadn't been drugged."

"Drugged?" Wufei echoed.

A shrug answered him. "We don't know what it is. There's a small mark on the inside of his elbow where a syringe was used. Whatever it was, there's no trace of it now and it doesn't appear to have done any lasting harm. In all likelihood, it was a sedative of some sort to keep him under control."

"Can we see him?" Quatre asked.

Another shrug. "If you'd like, but don't be upset if he doesn't wake up. At the moment, he's in a coma. Also, he's going to look pretty bad. Don't be surprised with the number of machines we've hooked him up to."

It was a silent group that was led into the small emergency room Quatre had had installed because of the danger involved with their line of work. What they found within the room was better than they had expected. Too fragile to place into casts yet, Duo lay motionless on a clean white bed. He was bound head to foot in bandages, only the tips of his fingers and parts of his face were showing. What little showed of his face was riddled with tubes. An artificial respirator was set up to ensure that he kept breathing. A heart monitor sat beside him and no less than seven IV's were hooked up to his arms. The left half of his face was discolored and puffy, his eye completely swollen shut and useless.

Heero stared at him for all of three seconds before pulling a chair to the side of the bed and seating himself. Everyone there knew better than to argue with his intent to stay beside Duo until he either recovered or died. Heero gasped and everyone clustered around the bed's edge. Duo's right eye had cracked open and was watching them with a decidedly glazed look. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards into the closest he could come to managing a smile. The tension left his face and he closed his eye again, returning to a more peaceful sleep than the one he had left only seconds before.

"I thought you said he was in a coma," Heero hissed. The surgeon backed away several paces and eyed the door nervously. No one who had seen Heero's temper in action before had any intention of ever seeing it again.

"He's a rotten faker," Wufei supplied, distracting Heero just long enough for the man to make a run for it.

For a moment, he thought he had made a fatal error in distracting the already distraught pilot. The cobalt gaze boring into his own obsidian caused his heart to skip several beats. Heero was going to hurt him. He was saved when Duo made a small noise in the back of his throat, instantly attracting the enraged pilot's attention. Though Wufei normally would have scoffed at the idea of retreating, a dishonorable act in itself, he didn't hesitate before sprinting after the doctor. Dishonorable or not, he had absolutely no intention of facing a pissed Heero.

For his part, Duo made a choked noise and coughed weakly around the tube in his throat. Heero watched him struggle in his sleep against the respirator, wondering if he should have one of the doctors remove it. After a few moments, the dilemma was solved for him as Duo issued an almighty hack and spit the tube out on his own. He coughed weakly several times before his breathing steadied. The other pilots could only stare at him in shock. Most of them had been hooked to a respirator at one time or another and knew full well the impossibility of removing the thick tube without a good deal of yanking and choked obscenities.

Muttering something about a 'longhaired baka who didn't have enough brains to fill a thimble' followed by a few more uncomplimentary phrases, Heero settled into a more comfortable position and locked his gaze on Duo. Quatre shrugged in something akin to relief and left to find something for the stoic pilot to eat. He knew perfectly well that the Japanese man would not move until Duo woke up again and there was no telling how long that would be. Trowa disappeared long enough to deposit Heero's laptop beside him before joining Quatre. Knowing Heero, he would want to continue his search for the name and location of Duo's target. The two pilots silently left, knowing that Duo would pull through after what they had seen. There only worries now were centered on how he and Heero would respond to his new condition.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Things will get much worse before they get better. Aren't I evil? ^_^


	3. III

After Dark

Part III

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Despite his best efforts, Heero fell asleep three days into his constant vigil. Leaving only for a few moments at a time to answer the call of nature, he had neither slept nor eaten properly. The effects of the routine and his building stress left him completely worn out. Quatre frowned at him as he came into the room with the larger man's supper.

"I knew you had to sleep eventually," he smirked wearily. He set the tray he was carrying on the small stand beside Duo's bed and with no small effort, heaved Heero over his shoulder. It was a sign of his exhaustion that the dark-haired pilot didn't awaken to the rough treatment. Quatre made a face. "Phew. You need to take a break long enough to shower," he grumbled. "You reek." He almost made it out the door before bumping into Wufei, who immediately made a face.

"God, it's a wonder that Duo hasn't suffocated," he muttered, moving to help the smaller blond with his unconscious passenger. "So how's he doing?" he asked, draping one of Heero's slack arms across his shoulders while Quatre did the same on his other side. The blond shrugged.

"The last I checked with the surgeons, he's healing nicely. Even though his skull was crushed, there's no brain damage, so he could wake up at anytime."

Wufei paused at this and looked back at the unconscious brunette. He slipped out from under Heero's arm, ignoring the resulting squawk from Quatre, and made his way to Duo's side. Without preamble, he stretched out one hand and stolidly flicked Duo's right ear with a soft popping noise. He watched the expression on the pale face tighten.

"Damn it, Wu-man. Let me sleep," he groused, cracking one eye open to glare blearily at the stunned Chinese man.

"Shimatta," Wufei whispered. "I didn't think it would actually work."

"Ahou," Duo retorted, closing his eye again.

Quatre just stared, jaw gaping. Without noticing, his hold on Heero slipped and he dropped the larger man with a muffled thump. He heard the swearing coming from the direction of his feet, but ignored the steady death threats aimed at him. With two simple words, he brought Heero's tirade to a screeching halt.

"Duo's awake."

Heero scrambled towards the bed, actually slipping twice in his efforts to reach the braided pilot. Wide cobalt eyes stared down at the discolored face in shock.

"Duo?"

Once again, an unhappy violet eye cracked open to stare at the building group. With an immense effort, he opened the other past the swelling and locked his lopsided gaze on the cluster of people in the room. He huffed softly in irritation.

"Are you going to let me go back to sleep or not?"

"Not," Trowa answered, sprinting silently into the room and silently thanking the surgeon who had informed him that the brunette was awake. It paid to bribe the doctors that monitored his vital signs.

Duo sighed noisily. "All right, what do I have to do to make you let me go back to sleep?"

"Tell me where you were sent," Heero answered quickly.

Duo's irritated expression slipped to outright terror and he stubbornly closed his eyes and let out a resounding snore.

"Damn it, Duo!" Heero snapped. "I know you're not asleep."

For an answer, Duo stuck out his tongue and wiggled it around a few times. He snapped his jaw shut a moment later and issued another snore, this one almost sounding real. It took all of his concentration, but he ignored the steady stream of cursing and demands coming from Heero as he allowed his mind to slip back into unconsciousness. Finally, Heero shut up with a resounding grunt. That actually surprised Duo enough to bring him fully awake again. He rolled his eyes awkwardly to the side and looked at the other pilots. Unsurprisingly, Heero looked furious. He was shocked, however, when he noticed that Wufei was smirking and Quatre and Trowa were desperately trying not to giggle. They probably knew that such an action would result in Heero hurting them.

"How does your jaw feel?" Quatre asked, changing the subject. He knew perfectly well that Duo had no intention of saying anything about what had happened. Any attempts to pry information out of him would have been pointless.

"Um, fine," Duo answered slowly, a baffled look entering his violet eyes. He opened his mouth to ask why he had been asked that when his stomach roared loudly. Immediately, his eyes flickered to the tray beside his bed that had originally been meant for Heero. His jaw set in a stubborn line. "If that's hospital food…" he began hotly.

"It's not," Quatre assured him quickly. "I made it."

Duo's expression shifted immediately. "Oh! In that case," he paused, staring eagerly at the tray, "I want it."

"Can you eat lying down?" Quatre asked worriedly. "I can see if the doctors will let us raise the bed…"

"Can I eat lying down, indeed," Duo scoffed, rolling his eyes and gracing them with one of his manic grins. "Do you even have to ask?"

"The bottomless pit has a point," Wufei offered. At the mock glare he received from Duo, and the real one from Heero, he quickly moved to the far side of the room. He liked his limbs where they were.

Heero glared after Wufei and might actually have hurt him had Duo not whined plaintively. At the sound, he nearly jumped out of his skin trying to figure out what was wrong, his cobalt eyes frantic. The sight in itself was amusing enough to cause Duo to chuckle softly, momentarily forgetting that he wanted something to eat. His distraction didn't last long, however, as his stomach once again made its emptiness known.

"We'll just leave this to you," Trowa said softly. The normally expressionless pilot was twitching slightly at the wild expression on Heero's face as he ushered Quatre out of the room. Wufei didn't hesitate before following, certain that one of his comments would eventually end up causing Heero to turn him into the world's first human pretzel.

Heero watched them leave, looking a little lost and more than slightly frantic. Now that his friend was awake, he realized that he had no idea what to do or say. At a loss for possibly the first time in his life, he shifted his attention fully to the braided pilot as the brunette sniffled and whimpered, his violet eyes glued to the food-bearing tray. He quickly removed the lid and blinked at the shrimp stir-fry that had originally been prepared for him. Seeing him, Duo opened his mouth like a baby bird and made a fair impression of chirping noises.

There was a slight pause before Heero actually began feeding his friend. He hesitated with a fork in hand, trying to decide how best to go about his task without making a horrible mess or gagging the still chirping brunette. Many chirps, squawks and vicious expletives later, Duo managed to finish off Heero's meal, minus the random pieces of vegetable or shrimp in his hair that the confused pilot had accidentally dropped. Even fed, Duo's whining wasn't at an end.

"I'm thirsty, Heero," he complained.

He almost retracted his request a moment later seeing the perplexed look on his friend's face, quickly coming to the realization that anything Heero tried to give him to drink would quickly end up everywhere but in his mouth. The Japanese pilot's aim had for the first time in his life proven to be atrocious. It became apparent rather quickly that he had never attempted to nurse anyone in his life, though Duo would have expected as much without the benefit of half a meal tangled in his long hair.

"I want a straw," Duo added quickly, not relishing the idea of having the drink poured up his nose.

Heero nodded slowly and left the room in almost a sprint. Duo focused his hearing, grinning to himself when he heard startled squawks from some of the household servants and several loud crashing noises. He could only imagine the damage Heero was inflicting upon the kitchen trying to follow through with his request. After several minutes, the Wing pilot returned with a slightly irked expression, a small length of surgical tubing securely in hand.

"They didn't have any straws," he said calmly, dipping one end of the tube into the glass of tea and sticking the other end in Duo's mouth.

Duo could only stare at him in shock, torn between laughing his butt off and not choking on his drink. It appeared that, once again, the surgical staff had been harried by the uncharacteristically spastic pilot. If things continued like this, he had no doubts that he would soon be able to badger Heero into hauling him around the house and out of the room he was currently in. It was far too boring for his tastes. Besides, even if Heero wasn't carting him around, he had no doubt that he would bully the others into doing it for him. One way or another, he was going to get out of here without too much difficulty.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Within the week, Duo found that himself being hauled around the house wearing more braces and splints than he could count. He had only to whimper or make a face to receive immediate attention from either Heero or one of the others. For the first few days, he was immensely amused to see that Wufei had a black eye, no doubt from his initial, and only, objection to moving Duo around. He had gotten off without serious injury only after quickly babbling that he was only worried about Duo's health. Duo knew this for the load of horse offal it was, since they both knew that no amount of rough treatment could inflict any further damage, but Wufei hadn't said a word since.

He had never thought that it would have been possible to convince the others to take him with them when they were reassigned, but somehow Duo had managed it. He still marveled how exceedingly simple it had been to convince Heero to cart him along with the others to the safe house at the far end of Japan. The pilot of Wing had even gone as far as to pack a variety of medical equipment and take a few of the surgeons hostage.

Two weeks after he had been brought in a bloody mess, the kidnapped surgeons pronounced that he no longer had to wear the neck brace. As was usually only typical of Heero, the bones had mended in less than half of the usual time and he was free of the only restraint that actually mattered to him. The brace removed, he could freely swivel his head, thereby making life a living hell for whoever had the current task of trying to feed him. He was well aware that he was being an absolute pain, but it was fun watching the other pilots trying not to rip his braid off as he tortured them at every meal.

"I'm so _bored_," Duo whined loudly, tossing his head back as he made his pronouncement, thereby evading the incoming spoon. Wufei sputtered on a curse and quickly wiped away the food that had slopped down Duo's neck. Duo quickly lowered his gaze in time to see the angry tick that had started in the Chinese pilot's cheek as the other pilot quickly scanned the room to make sure Heero wasn't going to kill him for accidentally making a mess. Luckily for him, the Japanese pilot hadn't yet returned from his current mission with Quatre.

Scowling, but trying to hide it, Wufei tried again, this time almost managing to get the spoon in the American's mouth. A loud bang sounded from the next room where Trowa was, and Duo automatically swiveled his head to see what he had broken. A spoon poked him in the cheek. Cursing followed.

Wufei was preparing to try again when gunshots sounded from the direction of the original slamming noise. He cursed and jerked his ever-present gun out of his waistband, already on his feet and running towards the next room. He had barely reached the door when several more shots were sounded. Duo felt the world shift slightly and his gaze immediately dropped to a smear of crimson blossoming from his shoulder. His gaze lifted again in time to see Oz soldiers swarm the room, still firing at Wufei, who was frantically dodging and hiding behind any piece of available furniture.

Pain shot through Duo's skull and the world spun. He slumped forward into waiting arms, vaguely swearing under his breath at the indignity of being pistol-whipped. He watched the floor spin with morbid fascination, barely aware that Wufei had deserted him in favor of fleeing. He was only momentarily irritated with his friend, knowing that his abandonment had been a move of practicality. No demands could be made on his life if no one was there to listen to them. If all else failed and he was killed, he was crippled and useless as a pilot anyways, so his death would amount to little. At the very least, one more pilot on the loose furthered his chances for being rescued.

Somehow, swiveling his head seemed to constitute a threat to his captors and another pistol butt came down hard on the back of his skull. Hopelessly disoriented and sickeningly dizzy, Duo simply gave in to unconsciousness. As darkness took him, a single thought embedded itself into his mind, bringing a slight smirk to his features.

_Heero's going to be pissed._

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

You know Duo must suffer a bit more, right? I'm too evil a person to allow for anything else. Please R&R, or poor Duo-kun will have to suffer even more. *pulls out black leather whip and laughs maniacally*


	4. IV

After Dark

Part IV

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Heero stared in horror as he saw the gutted remains of their safe house in the distance. Without slowing down or giving any indication he had seen the ashes that a short time ago must have been a raging inferno, he continued down the road on the motorcycle he had hotwired. He felt Quatre stiffen behind him, but he refused to slow down to check the ashes. There was no point in wasting time before heading towards the new location they were to meet at in case of such an occurrence. This wouldn't be the first time their hiding place had been discovered and raided and he doubted it would be the last.

A good fifty miles down the road, he pulled off and skidded to a stop in front of an old battered cabin. Nothing as nice as where they had been before leaving on their mission, but unassuming. The first thing to meet his eyes was Wufei leaning against the front door, looking slightly ruffled but otherwise unharmed. Heero walked up to him stiffly, speaking tersely.

"What happened?"

"We were located," Wufei answered sullenly, sounding mortally insulted at being caught off guard. "Trowa and Duo were captured." When he saw Heero's jaw tighten dangerously, he stepped back, fearing for his health.

"Do you know where they are now?" Heero asked. Wufei could swear that he heard enamel cracking.

"Yes. Both were taken to the base three hours north of here."

"Do you know what rooms they're in?" Quatre asked, breaking in to the conversation for the first time.

"They're still being interrogated," Wufei admitted, refusing to look directly at Heero. He had the feeling that he was about to be decked.

Heero looked like he was about to respond but he paused, one eye twitching in concentration. Without giving any explanation, he spun quickly and leveled his gun towards the road, his aim steady. Wufei and Quatre looked at him quizzically, but both knew better than to distract him when he had that predatory expression. After a few moments they realized what he was aiming at. The sound of a rapidly approaching vehicle could be heard. Looking grim, the other two pilots raised their firearms as well.

An Oz jeep swerved wildly, falling into a tidy spin that ended a good twenty paces from the three pilots. Without waiting for the movement of the jeep to end, the driver vaulted out with hands raised. Wearing an Oz uniform smeared with blood stood a bruised and battered Trowa. Guns were lowered immediately.

"Where's Duo?" Heero demanded.

Trowa lowed his arms and shrugged weakly. "I have no idea. But if I'm correct in what I saw in my escape, he's not in the northernmost building."

"That means nothing," Heero snapped. "They could have moved him there."

"Unlikely, since I blew it up."

Heero glared at the European pilot, who only shrugged refused to give up his calm expression. Anyone who knew Trowa would also know that he wouldn't have done any damage to the base without being absolutely sure that none of the others would be in the range of his destruction. The glare directed at him was quickly replaced with a scowl and Heero stormed into the new safe house, pulling his laptop out of his backpack as he walked and preparing to hook it up. Quatre rolled his eyes and started towards the house to gather a few implements of mass destruction. The Japanese pilot would know Duo's location within minutes and when he did they would all be off on the self-appointed mission of reclaiming the braided pilot.

No one had the time to do more than locate their firearms and explosives before Heero flipped his laptop off and headed for the door.

"He's still being interrogated. That leaves us with seven compounds to search. Six, now that Trowa took out the northern building. Let's go."

Three pilots scrambled to follow him as he headed for the jeep Trowa had stolen, quickly hotwiring the vehicle again. Silence extended endlessly as the four pilots, possibly the most dangerous men in the world, sped towards an Oz base that would be in ashes before the sun rose again.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Duo sat, unwillingly, in a small interrogation room in the far west wing of the compound. Remaining silent through the questioning had gotten him punched several times, but he didn't care since he couldn't feel anything. Sensing that something was wrong, his interrogators pushed up the ante.

"What are you orders?" the man in charge of the questioning asked.

In the pattern he had set several hours prior, Duo simply offered an innocent look. He was backhanded immediately. He grinned widely until another officer spoke up.

"Sir, I think he's a quadriplegic."

Duo froze, eyes wide.

"Explain," the man in command ordered.

"He hasn't once moved anything other than his head and only shows expressions of pain when we hit him above the neck."

"Really?" the commander drawled. "I noticed that he was unresponsive, but I had assumed that it was merely part of his training." Duo put on his best smirk when the commander turned back to him. "Well, boy, what do you know?"

Duo simply smirked again, refusing to give the commander the satisfaction of an answer. What did it matter if they knew he was crippled? What could they do? Slap him around a bit?

A long knife glinted in the room's bright light and Duo flinched. Feeling no pain, he looked down, fully expecting to see the handle of the knife protruding from his ribs. There wasn't one. He almost began to wonder what they had done when loose strands of hair fell freely around his face, no longer than his jaw. Duo froze, the missing weight of his braid assaulting his mind. He scowled darkly when the commander held up the long rope of hair tauntingly.

"Missing something?" he asked.

Duo growled warningly but still said nothing. His silence only served to infuriate the man further. Expecting to be hit again, he was completely unprepared for what happened next.

The commander smiled back at him pleasantly, one hand slipping into his pocket. Without warning, he pulled out a fist with something clenched firmly within. Fingers opened and steel flashed, revealing a switchblade a mere moment before it was plunged into Duo's left eye. Training and resolution came to nothing in that moment. Duo screamed.

Tears streamed from his remaining eye when the commander pulled his blade back. The man inspected his small knife for a moment, trailing two fingers through the blood on the small blade.

"Now, boy, you will tell me what you know if you wish to keep your remaining eye."

Duo wanted to draw back, to fight, to run. He was unable to do anything. Choking on his voice, he tried to protect himself with his voice alone.

"I d-don't know anything," he stammered. "You're right, I am crippled. I'm only kept around because I'm a friend. They don't tell me anything anymore. I'm only a liability."

"So, I assume you have no missions in your current state?"

"No. As I said, I'm only a liability. I'm useless now that I can't move."

"Do your friends tell you anything?" he asked.

"N-no" Duo stuttered, failing to keep his voice under control.

"I'm sure you've heard them talking," the commander insisted. "Discussing what they planned on doing."

"Nothing," Duo said firmly. "I would only be dangerous to them if I was captured otherwise."

"Anyone with information would be dangerous if captured," the commander said calmly. "Why should you be any different?"

"I'm not involved in operations. Why would they bother informing me of anything? All I know is information of things long past, nothing current."

The commander nodded and set the blade on a small table. He glanced at some of the other instruments on the table they had been prepared to torture Duo with. Frowning, he whispered something to a soldier near him. The man nodded and disappeared, returning only a moment later with a screwdriver in hand.

"Now," the commander said, smiling unpleasantly. "I don't believe all you've told me. A fully trained pilot such as yourself would be of great use in planning various tactics."

Duo shook his head frantically. "We plan nothing! Orders are sent to us directly. We never discuss them among ourselves. We do as we're told."

The commander stayed silent for several seconds. He shifted his grip on the screwdriver in his right hand and buried his left in Duo's shortened hair. Duo tried to pull away but could do nothing. He felt the tip of the screwdriver pressed into his left ear slightly, the chill of the metal causing Duo to shiver slightly.

"Wrong answer, boy."

With a quick snap of his arm, the commander in charge buried the metal into Duo's ear. Despite his efforts at remaining silent, Duo cried out a second time as pain exploded in his inner ear. The screwdriver was withdrawn. Duo choked on a sob, feeling the blood running from his ear mingling with the blood from his eye.

"You're running out of chances to answer," the commander said calmly, watching the blood drip from the screwdriver. "One more lie and you'll be blind." He tossed the screwdriver onto the table and picked up the bloodied switchblade. "Lie again after that and I'll deafen you completely as well. How would you like that? Unable to move, trapped forever in darkness and silence with only your lying tongue to keep you company. Or should I remove that as well since you won't be able to hear our questions once you're deaf?"

A young soldier ran into the room, skidding to a halt before the commander.

"Sir, several gundam pilots have infiltrated the base." Duo lifted his head slightly, hope creeping onto his pale features. His expression flashed into despair with the next pieces of information. "We captured one and shot two others. A fourth escaped with the two injured pilots."

"Really?" the commander said slowly. "Thank you, soldier. You are excused."

"Yes, sir," the young man said crisply, leaving the room at a run.

"So," the commander said, turning back to Duo. He placed the tip of the switchblade on Duo's right cheekbone. "You knew your friends would come for you here, but you said nothing."

"I didn't think they'd come!" Duo cried, trying to pull his head back. A hand wrapped itself in his hair again. Tears flooded from Duo's right eye. "I'm useless to them and I don't know anything! There's no reason for them to rescue me!"

"They were desperate to get to you," the commander continued. "That desperation made them sloppy in their work. You must know something very important for all of them to risk their lives to get to you."

"No," Duo whimpered. "Please. I don't know anything."

"And still you lie to me," the commander sighed in frustration.

Duo saw a glint of light reflecting off the small blade before a flash of brilliant white flooded his vision, accompanied by searing pain. Duo's scream echoed off the walls of the small room long after his vision faded to black. The hand in his hair tightened and wrenched his head back. The cold tip of the bloodied screwdriver was placed against his ear.

"Last chance, boy," a low voice hissed just beyond his ear.

Duo would have glared had he still had even one of his eyes. No matter what he answered, he knew the sick bastard above him would continue. He drew a shaking breath and tried to brace himself.

"I'll see you in hell, you sadistic fucker," he spat.

Even though he knew it was coming, Duo still cried out when the metal ruptured his eardrum and shattered his inner ear. He knew he had screamed, could feel the vibrations in his throat, but he could hear nothing.

A large hand spanned his delicate, crimson-streaked face and pinched viciously, trying to force his jaw open. Duo knew what was coming and desperately tried to clench his jaw shut. Dizzy from blood loss and pain, he slowly lost the battle and his jaw was forced open. Ice-cold metal pushed past his teeth, pliers gripping his tongue and pulling it out just beyond his teeth. The already sticky blade of the small knife rested against the underside of his tongue for a moment before jerking upwards sharply. Duo choked on a small cry as blood flooded his mouth and clogged his throat.

Movement weakly twinged his pain-dulled senses, telling Duo he was being moved. The floor rushed up to meet his face. Duo laid still, weary and nauseous from blood loss. Vibrations ran through the floor as a large door was slammed shut and locked. Duo vaguely wondered why they bothered. He wasn't exactly a threat. Consciousness slipped from him as his blood slowly pooled around him.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

*ducks inside bomb shelter to hide from pissed Duo fans* Gomen! I know I'm mean, but it had to be done! All will be well eventually. Promise, so R&R! Oh, and be warned, updates will be monstrously slow since I'm currently working weird hours. I know I've said it once, but R&R!


	5. V

After Dark

Part V

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The commander looked down at Duo's limp form in the interrogation chair, scowling darkly. After the impudent comment, he was tempted to kill him, but decided against it.

"Throw him in the room with his friend. Perhaps the other one will be willing to talk once he sees what we're capable of."

Two soldiers saluted and grabbed Duo's arms, dragging him across the compound to throw him into the cell holding his friend. Checking only to see that the captured pilot wasn't near the door, the unlocked the deadbolts and threw Duo inside roughly. Before the other pilot had a chance to move, they slammed and locked the door. After losing almost fifty men capturing him, they had no intention of letting him loose again.

With the steel door locked tightly, they left to return to their posts.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Wufei rolled to his feet instantly when he heard the heavy bolts of the door open. Whatever he had expected of the guards at the door, what he saw was not it. Wide onyx eyes followed Duo's still form as he was thrown to the floor, landing heavily on his face. Blood splattered across the metal plated floor. Wufei was by his side before the door had completely shut.

"Nataku," he breathed. His dark eyes watered as blood spread quickly across the floor.

Gently, he rolled Duo slightly onto his side and gathered him into his arms. Tears slipped down his cheeks as Duo's ruined eyes came into view. He touched his trembling fingers to the stream of blood beneath Duo's eyes and ears. His throat locked in a mixture of profound sadness and utter loathing. Whoever had done this would suffer a gruesome death at his hands.

Duo choked weakly in his arms, coughing to push the blood out of his mouth. Wufei trembled with the horror coursing through his body as he saw the severed tongue in Duo's mouth still gushing blood.

Wufei quickly shifted Duo in his arms, holding Duo's head on his collarbone, mouth facing downwards so he wouldn't choke on his own blood. He pressed one cheek to the back of Duo's head, trying desperately to comfort him.

The slight movement and gentle touches pulled Duo from his stupor. Believing he was being moved again to be tortured further, he panicked. The warm skin under his bloody lips fired his temper and he fought back the only way left to him. Curling his lips back, he opened his sore jaw and bit down. Hard. Blood gushed from the flesh in his mouth, but he ignored it. Or tried to. With his hold, he couldn't let the blood drain from his mouth. Unwilling to relinquish his hold but not relishing the thought of drowning in blood, he swallowed raggedly.

Wufei jerked roughly when a burning pain erupted at the base of his neck. Trying to push Duo away only caused the pain-crazed brunette to tighten his hold. He even started to tell him that he could let go, that he was safe now, before remembering that Duo couldn't hear him. Frustrated with the situation and furious that someone had tortured Duo the to the brink of insanity, he tried the only thing he could think of to communicate.

Tilting his head to one side, Wufei used one finger to write his name gently on Duo's cheek. After several repetitions of writing his name, he felt the jaw locked to his throat loosen slightly in uncertainty. Knowing that he had Duo's full attention, he began to write out in full detail what he would do to the people responsible for the injustice of their actions.

Duo's lips trembled against his neck for a moment before he carefully unlocked his jaw and pulled his teeth out of Wufei's neck. He let out a choked sob and buried his face against the Chinese pilot's collarbone. Wufei stroked his hair gently, only then noticing the ragged wisps under his fingers. The sheer senselessness of the insult of cutting off Duo's prized braid made him vow to avenge his trembling friend.

"You just wait until Heero finds out about this," Wufei murmured into the silence, his soft voice at odds with Duo's ragged breathing. "This base will disappear from the face of the planet. Justice will be seen. There will be no survivors."

Wufei paused, shocked when he noticed that Duo had pressed his face more firmly against his neck. He was confused until he realized that Duo could feel the vibrations in his throat when he was speaking. The desperation of the gesture robbed him of all coherent thoughts for several seconds. Unable to think of anything to say, he began humming softly, relieved when the tension slowly receded from Duo's neck.

He stayed like that for hours, ignoring the scratchiness of his own voice as he hummed, gently running his fingers through Duo's hair. Finally, Duo's breathing evened out in uneasy slumber. Only then did Wufei allow himself to relax enough to rest. He had been awake since Duo's capture and he was exhausted. Sleep claimed him immediately.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

I know it's short! Gomen! The next section will be much longer, I swear, but it's not quite finished yet. *ducks out of sight to hide from rabid fans* I know I've had forever to mess with it. Forgive the poor overworked zombie. R&R!


	6. VI

After Dark

Part VI

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Duo awoke when he felt Wufei shift underneath him, the Chinese pilot clinging to him protectively. He could almost feel the hatred emanating from the dark-haired boy. Wufei growled loudly.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"You are to be interrogated now," a soldier responded calmly. The soft click of a cocked gun resounded loudly in the silence.

Wufei gently lowered Duo to the floor and cupped his cheek in one hand, rubbing his thumb apologetically over the American's cheekbone. Praying that the brunette would be safe from further torture, he left the room silently, not resisting.

Duo inhaled shakily as the door to the cell slammed shut. The guards didn't even bother to lock it.

Alone with his thoughts, Duo remained absolutely still for several minutes. He knew it was impossible, but he had heard them speaking. He had heard the door pushed shut. Barely daring to hope, he pulled his eyelids against the blood sealing them shut, forcing his eyes open.

Despair ran through him when only blackness met his searching eyes. Tears welled in his eyes and spilled over. He had been a fool to hope that he could still see just because the commander had failed to deafen him completely.

Tossing his head back in frustration shifted Duo's teary gaze towards the door and the thin stream of light peeking under it. The soft cry that had nearly escaped his throat stopped prematurely at his lips.

Duo shook his head. It couldn't be real. He was dreaming. That was the only possible explanation. To prove his theory, he carefully ran his tongue over his teeth, noting dully that the front half was no longer missing. He chuckled mirthlessly.

"Well, if this is a dream, why not go all the way?" he murmured.

Duo tensed his body and tried to push himself off the floor. He didn't move an inch. Growling softly, he tried again, wondering why his body felt like lead. Sluggishly, his arms wormed themselves across the floor enough to be in a position where he might be able to rise.

Grunting with the effort, he forced his trembling arms to push him upright. Several more lunges and jerks brought him to his hands and knees. Even with an almighty effort, he had to use the wall to steady himself as he struggled to get to his feet.

Panting softly from the exertion, Duo brushed his hair irritably out of his eyes, pausing when he noticed the length. It wasn't the former knee-length mass of silk he remembered nor was it the jagged shoulder-length hack job. Rather, it ran just past his shoulder blades. Baffled, he moved towards the steel door.

His hand had barely touched the handle when the door was jerked open. A loud, amused voice resounded through the cell as the guard entered.

"Come on, cripple. They want you to help convince your friend to talk…" The man trailed off when he found himself facing a set of burning violet eyes.

Fury swept through Duo's veins. Before he even realized what he was doing, he had grabbed the stunned soldier by the throat and slammed him into the nearest wall. He grabbed the guard's hands with one of his own before the larger man could even think about fighting back.

"Really?" Duo snarled. The guard only stared at him in shock. "Where is he?" When he didn't get a response, he slammed the soldier against the wall more forcefully. "Where is he?"

"West wing," the soldier said quickly. "Same interrogation room you were in."

"Thanks," Duo purred. He removed his grip from the man's throat and transferred it to the taller man's hair, yanking his head to the side.

Thought fled from his mind as he sank his teeth into the guard's neck, ripping out his carotid. Blood gushed into his mouth and down his throat. Realization of what he was doing struck almost instantly and he jumped back. For several seconds, he could only stare at the form on the floor, writhing in pain as he bled to death.

Blood ran from his lips as he watched the soldier crawl towards the door. Gritting his teeth, Duo reached down and quickly snapped the man's neck. Now was no time to be squeamish or confused. Wufei needed his help.

Duo raced down the halls, still remembering when he was dragged to the interrogation room for the first time. He knew where it was by heart.

Several soldiers appeared along the way, meeting their deaths at Duo's hands. A few managed to draw their guns before being overrun by the crazed American. Twice, he was shot in his mad charge, but he showed no pain and refused to be slowed down.

At this point, Duo didn't care if he was dreaming or not. He was out for blood. The door to the interrogation room was in view and nothing would stop him. He grabbed the handle, spitting out a string of vulgar language when he found it locked. Backing up a step, he snapped out a vicious kick similar to the ones he had seen Wufei perform so many times. The steel door was thrown off its hinges, the deadbolt snapping off under the force of the blow.

The same commander than had tortured him stood speechless in the center of the room, hovering over Wufei with a small knife. Duo exploded, lunging at the shocked man and hauling him into the air by his throat. In an act of desperation, the commander slammed the knife in his hands into Duo's chest.

Duo hissed in a mixture of pain and irritation, baring his teeth. Behind him, he felt his hair slither down his back to its prior knee-length glory. With his free hand, he grasped the commander's head and jerked his arm.

The commander went suddenly lax in Duo's grip as his head pulled free. Following through with the motion, Duo slung the bloodied head away from him. It ricocheted off the wall and rolled to a stop near Wufei's feet. Duo dropped the limp body still in his grasp and started towards Wufei, unaware that he was covered from head to foot in blood.

Trapped firmly in a berserker rage, Duo couldn't see Wufei's terrified expression or his uncontrollable trembling. Duo slipped one hand under the Chinese boy's chin and pulled his head up, peering carefully at the pallid face and wide eyes. Violet eyes flickered towards the deep cut running the length of Wufei's left cheekbone.

Wufei could only stare in shock at the blood soaked figure standing over him. His onyx eyes met violet. He choked on his own breath when he saw the slender, elongated pupils in the intense gaze. What scared him ever more than the gaze, more than the vision of lengthening hair, was the shape of the face before him. He knew that heart-shaped visage.

Duo lowered his face toward Wufei's, pressing his lips over the long slash on his cheek. Wufei tried to pull away but found himself paralyzed by the gentle tongue pushing into the slash. Instead of the pain he expected from the action, a soothing numbness spread through the wound.

"Duo," he ground out. "Stop."

Hearing his name, Duo pulled back, licking the blood from his lips. The stark fear he saw in Wufei's eyes pulled him out of his blinding rage. He took a moment to orient himself, blinking several times to clear the blood from his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Duo asked slowly, still dizzy.

Wufei eyed his friend nervously. "I am for the moment, but we need to get out of here."

Duo nodded and pulled at the straps holding Wufei's arms and legs tight to the chair. He was almost finished when three soldiers burst into the room with guns drawn. Two shots resounded deafeningly in the small room.

Wufei trembled violently, eyes wide in a mixture of mortification and unadulterated terror. Both shots had connected perfectly with the back of Duo's head, twinned holes exiting his forehead. Covered with his friend's blood, Wufei could only watch, horrified, as Duo's vacant eyes slowly came back into focus. The bullet holes closed and vanished before his disbelieving eyes.

Snarling, Duo rounded on the three gaping soldiers, taking two out with his bare hands before the third could even raise his gun. Duo ignored the impact as four more shots thudded into his chest. Calmly gripping the gun with one hand, Duo turned the barrel towards the gun's owner and pulled the trigger for him.

Wufei scrambled frantically with the restraint still holding his ankles to the chair. Duo calmly pushed his hands out of the way and slipped two fingers into the thick leather strap, snapping it as easily as he would a hair band. He turned to the door and peered out as the Chinese pilot jumped nervously to his feet.

"Come on," Duo called over his shoulder. Wufei edged closer to him warily.

"What's going on, Maxwell?" he asked thickly. Violet eyes flickered towards him for a moment.

"I don't know, but I'll work on it when we're out of here," he grumbled. "For now, I need you to tell me the fastest way to get off this base. I know you studied the layout before coming here."

"At the end of this hall, there's a fire escape on the left. After a little over a mile of open grounds, there will be a security fence we'll have to scale."

"Good enough," Duo answered. A smirk appeared on his crimson-streaked features. Without warning, he ducked into the hall, sprinting for the exit and punching out a hapless guard in his way.

He was shocked to find the fire escape locked and barred. Duo moved back a few paces and ran at the door, slamming into the steel monstrosity foot first. Not designed for blows that powerful, the door crumpled and flew off of the frame. Duo ran onto the small platform, cursing loudly into the night when he saw why the door had been barred. The escape route was still under construction.

"Kisama," Wufei growled, peering over the guardrail to the daunting distance to the pavement below.

"We would have to be on the sixth floor," Duo grumbled darkly. "So be it."

Not even realizing what he was doing, Duo turned to Wufei, who had already started to go back inside. Snagging his shoulder, Duo turned the Chinese boy around and pulled him over his shoulders. Wufei made a shocked noise in the back of his throat and struggled to be set down. His efforts increased exponentially when Duo turned to face the drop.

As gracefully as any feline, Duo leapt onto the rail, balancing for a few seconds before leaping off. Wufei cried out and clung to the form holding him, certain that they were both about to turn into the world's largest grease spot on the pavement below.

Duo landed with enough force that he unintentionally knocked the breath out of his unwilling cargo. Winded and scared, Wufei began thrashing again. This time, Duo obeyed and set him on his feet.

"Any direction work from here?" Duo asked. Wufei cursed and nodded.

Side by side, the two pilots sprinted across the open grounds, the shadow of a fence slowly becoming visible in the dim moonlight.

"Hey, Fei," Duo called as they ran. The Chinese pilot glanced at him questioningly. "Isn't it a bit late for an interrogation? I mean, like, what time is it anyways?"

"Around ten," Wufei snapped out testily, slightly winded. "The interrogation would have been sooner, but Heero tried to break in again. They just barely managed to chase him off."

"I see," Duo commented wryly. "Question you tonight before someone has a chance to get you out."

Wufei nodded, not commenting further.

Being highly trained, the two managed to run the full mile to the fence in a little under four minutes. Duo skidded to a halt, jaw hanging open in shock when he saw the 'fence' closely. Scowling, he turned to Wufei, who had also stumbled to a halt.

"What kind of fence is that?" Duo yelled, fuming openly at the obstacle in their path. The 'fence' was a thirty-foot high, steel enforced concrete wall.

"I snuck inside by clinging to the bottom of a supply truck! I didn't have a chance to see it," Wufei snapped defensively.

Their argument was broken up abruptly by the sound of a gunshot. Wufei started to charge in a new direction but was stopped by a hand snaking around his waist. Shocked, he turned to yell at Duo but was thwarted in that effort as well when Duo ran towards the wall, giving him no choice but to run on fall on his face.

Wufei opened his mouth to command that Duo release him. His order dissolved into a hoarse shout when the arm tightened and they left the ground. Not wanting to face the gunfire, Duo had run towards the wall and made an almighty leap.

The top of the wall appeared to be just out of reach. Horrified, Wufei froze, believing that he was about to fall back to the ground. Duo, however, had no intention of giving up and snaked his free arm out, his fingertips hooking over the top edge. Their momentum caused them to slam chest first into the stone wall. Somehow, Duo managed to maintain his grip.

Kicking his legs, Duo managed to propel himself upwards about a foot. That was more than enough distance to obtain a firm grip. He immediately dragged himself to the top, Wufei hanging from one arm. Grinning maniacally, he launched himself off the other side with the cursing Chinese pilot in tow.

In mid fall, Duo pulled Wufei into his arms so he wouldn't get hurt when they landed. Duo dropped lightly to the ground, Wufei cradled in his arms. Before the Chinese pilot could yell at him for the humiliating position he was in, Duo was already running.

Wufei was set to protest when he noticed the speed Duo was running at. It was easily three or four times faster than he could move unhindered. The fact that Duo was carrying is own weight in cargo caused a chill to run down his spine.

When Duo finally came to a stop over ten miles but only fifteen minutes later, Wufei finally vocalized his demand.

"Kisama! Put me down!"

Duo shrugged and released his hold, promptly dropping the Chinese pilot on his butt. Bristling indignantly, Wufei prepared to launch into one of his legendary rants on injustice. His lecture turned to ashes in his mouth when he saw Duo's hair, streaked with blood, extending to his knees.

Wufei's stomach rolled over and played dead. Not even a few hours ago, he had run his fingers gently through Duo's shoulder length hair, striving to comfort him. Less than an hour ago, he had seen that same ragged cut lengthen itself instantly to the current knee-length glory it was at now.

Wanting nothing more than to leave, quickly, Wufei began studying his longhaired companion. An hour ago, he had been a deaf, blind, mute quadriplegic. Now, he appeared healthier than all of them combined.

"Maxwell," he called. Duo turned to look at him immediately. Wufei froze.

In the darkness of the evening, he had expected to see either shadowed regions of his face or the faint reflection of the moon in Duo's eyes. Instead, he was faced with a golden sheen that he had only seen before in large predators. Wufei fell silent, throat tight.

"Yes?" Duo asked when Wufei remained silent.

"What… how… why can you move?" he finally cried out in frustration. Duo frowned.

"I don't know. I already told you that," he responded softly, still peering back towards the Oz base. "And before you ask, I don't know how I kicked in the doors, jumped off a sixth floor clearing or leapt over that wall. I'm as lost as you are."

"Why are your eyes glowing?" Wufei asked stiffly. He immediately wished he could retract his question when Duo rounded on him.

"What did you say?" Duo demanded, looking slightly frantic. Wufei swallowed uneasily.

"Your eyes," he said slowly, afraid to answer. "Why are they glowing gold?"

Duo raised one hand slowly, running his fingers gently across one eyelid. Looking utterly lost, he stood absolutely still, eyes unfocused. Several moments passed in silence before he answered.

"I don't know," he whispered. His voice firmed. "We'll figure this out later. We need to leave."

Without waiting for Wufei to answer, and honestly not wanting to hear any more of his comments on the situation, Duo started moving again. This time he kept his pace slow enough that the Chinese pilot could keep up. Upon reaching the road, Duo frowned and decided to hitchhike. Naturally without the knowledge of the driver.

For the third time that evening, Wufei found himself being carried by the braided idiot. Held over Duo's left shoulder, he waited for the inevitable: Duo scaring the shit out of him.

Sure enough, the moment an eighteen-wheeler barreled by, Duo tore out of the shadows and leapt into the air. Kicking, squirming and lurching, Duo managed to drag them both onto the top of the large truck, heedless of Wufei's nerves.

Relatively safe, the two pilots hunkered down to protect themselves from both the wind and being seen. At the first sign of a city, Duo snagged Wufei, who had resigned himself to his fate, and leapt off the truck. Once they were safely back on the ground, Wufei promptly hotwired a car.

Not knowing what safe house their friends were at, the two made their way to a college campus and walked calmly into the dorms. Duo walked up to the nearest door and knocked loudly.

Bleary-eyed and more than slightly drunk, a young man answered the door. Duo and Wufei pushed him inside and closed the door behind them. The Chinese pilot promptly knocked out the startled student while Duo accessed his computer. After a few minutes of furious typing, he nodded.

"Okay. Let's go."

Wufei grunted and followed him back into the parking lot to their stolen car.

"Which way?" Wufei asked.

"Head north," Duo responded immediately. "I found them at the leaky little farmhouse about fifty miles from here." He fell silent, grinning vaguely.

"What did you do, Maxwell?" Wufei asked, not really wanting an answer.

"I uploaded a few of the nastier computer viruses I know of to Oz. I also informed Heero that we were coming so he wouldn't attack the base needlessly. Oh, and I had twenty pizzas delivered to Zechs." Wufei grunted. "And a hooker to Treize." The Chinese pilot groaned. Only the baka would take the time to annoy those two men for no better reason than he could, especially when they had much more pressing matters to attend to.

Trusting Wufei to find the way to the newest safe house, Duo reclined his chair slightly and fell asleep. The raven-haired pilot glanced at him once, but remained silent, allowing him to sleep the entire distance. With Wufei's driving tendencies, they covered the fifty miles in thirty minutes.

Duo immediately woke up when the car's engine died. Seeing the presence of two other vehicles in the driveway, Duo frowned.

"Go in," he said, stretching slightly. "Three cars at a beat up place like this will attract attention. I'll ditch this one."

Wufei nodded, allowing Duo to leave with the car. He wasn't as concerned with letting Duo leave as he was about talking to the other about what was going on. He wasn't surprised in the least to see three guns pointed at him when he walked through the door.

"Where's Duo?" Heero asked immediately, mindless of formalities.

"He's getting rid of the car we hotwired," Wufei responded wearily.

"Duo is getting rid of the car?" Heero repeated, sounding tense. Quatre and Trowa just stared, looking dumbfounded when Wufei nodded.

"When I first saw him on base, they had cut off his braid, put out both of his eyes and eardrums and cut out his tongue." Heero surged to his feet, looking murderous. Wufei motioned for him to sit back down, understanding the feeling. "When I was moved to be interrogated, he barged in and killed everyone, looking perfectly healthy."

Heero stared at him hotly. "Then what?"

"Then," Wufei continued at the prompting, "he took off my restraints and we escaped."

"How?" Heero snapped. Wufei held up one hand and drew a deep breath.

"He picked me up and jumped off of a sixth floor fire escape. When we reached the wall at the perimeter, he picked me up, again, and jumped over it." Heero flopped back in his seat, looking upset. "We got into town by jumping onto a moving vehicle."

"Anything else out of the ordinary?" Heero asked slowly.

"A few things," Wufei sighed. "His hair grew back while I was watching. His eyes were glowing gold when we were outside. He didn't notice when he was shot several times, either. Oh, and he licked my cheek."

"Your cheek?" Heero insisted. Wufei looked shocked that he had picked the most minor of the incidences to make him elaborate on.

"Right before he broke the restraints holding me in the interrogation room. He was running his tongue through the cut I had picked up from the commander during my interrogation."

Heero frowned and shook his head. "That's not right. It's not in the right order."

"What's going on?" Quatre asked, pushing into the conversation for the first time. Heero ignored him.

The Japanese pilot suddenly walked over to Wufei and pushed his head to the side, staring at his neck. He scowled at the still open set of teeth marks at the junction of shoulder and neck.

"When did this happen?"

Wufei blinked. "When I first saw him. He couldn't tell who I was so he bit me when I picked him up. It's my fault for surprising him like that."

"You said he was shot?" Heero persisted, changing the conversation again.

"Several times in the chest and twice in the head."

Heero growled loudly and scrubbed one hand through his hair in frustration, glaring heatedly at the floor. The growl turned into a sigh and he closed his eyes.

"So be it," he murmured, throat tight. The sheer dejection on his face prevented any of the other pilots from saying anything. The silence extended for several minutes, broken only by the sound of the door opening.

"Hey guys!" Duo called, grinning from ear to ear. "You'll never believe…"

Five sequential gunshots silenced whatever he had been about to say. Blood flooded across Duo's already filthy face from five holes in his forehead. Eyes blank, he collapsed to the floor.

"Duo!" Quatre yelled, running to his side. Heero grabbed his arm and flung him back. The small blond glared. "Heero! What's wrong with you?"

Heero glared at his three stunned friends, his fingers still curled around his gun. Ignoring them once more, he stormed to the nearest chair and snapped off one of the legs. He was stalking back towards Duo when Trowa caught his arm. The normally expressionless pilot's face was twisted into a dark scowl.

"What's going on, Heero? Why did you shoot him?"

Heero didn't have a chance to answer. A flying tackle took him out of Trowa's grip and to the floor, Duo's fingers curled around his wrists. Heero snaked one foot between them and kicked Duo off.

Duo landed flat on his back. Seeing movement around him, he rolled to his feet, barely dodging Heero's lunge. Not to be deterred, the Japanese pilot threw the wooden chair leg at him. The jagged end of the wood embedded itself firmly in Duo's ribs.

Crying out sharply, Duo half collapsed, scrabbling to move away from Heero. He had to struggle to yank the chair leg out of his ribs. The distraction of removing the splintering wood earned him several more bullets to the head. Duo deterred Heero from continuing that line of action by throwing the wooden chair leg back at him.

Forced to dodge, Heero let up his attack for a mere moment. That was enough time for Duo to sprint out the door. A car engine roared to life and the sounds of squealing tires disappeared down the road. Heero swore loudly. He froze when he heard the sound of three guns being cocked.

"Now," Wufei said firmly, eyes glinting dangerously. "What is going on?" Trowa and Quatre stared at him demandingly as well. Heero stared out the door for a moment before answering. The response caused Wufei to pale and the other two pilots to gape.

"He's a vampire," Heero said softly, his voice hard. "And when I find out who turned him, there will be hell to pay."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

See! I promised that this section would be longer! I'll try to get the next section out fairly soon, but I don't know my schedule yet… or ever. Make me happy and R&R!


	7. VII

After Dark

Part VII

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"A… vampire?" Trowa asked slowly. When Heero nodded, he went silent and withdrew slightly. Quatre frowned.

"Are you serious, Heero?" the blond asked. He clenched his teeth when he only received a stiff nod.

"Are you insane?" Wufei sputtered. "There's no such thing, Yuy!"

"He was a quadriplegic only yesterday. You admitted yourself that he didn't seem to care if he was shot. He was jumping off of buildings, over walls and onto trucks. You even witnessed me shooting him in the head and you saw for yourselves that he wasn't even fazed," Heero said calmly, staring the other three pilots down. "What else would you conclude?"

"There's no such thing," Wufei repeated sullenly.

"There is," Heero snapped. "I've been hunting them for years now. I know how to recognize them."

"I can understand hunting them," Trowa murmured. "But why Duo? He's on our side and he doesn't seem dangerous from what Wufei said."

"That will change," Heero growled. "Part of the transformation includes a shift of personalities. He'll become violent."

"This is ludicrous, Yuy," Wufei snapped. "No one at Oz was gnawing on him!"

"What about Wufei?" Quatre asked suddenly, going very pale.

Wufei froze, eyes growing wide. One hand slapped the teeth marks on his neck and he edged away from Heero slightly. Heero glanced at him and shrugged dismissively.

"It's not very easy to turn someone. Usually blood transfusions are needed. If biting someone could do it, there wouldn't be many people left," he said stiffly. Wufei looked at him strangely, cocking his head to the side slightly.

"Then how was he turned?" he asked softly.

"I don't know how or when, but biting you must have triggered his transformation," Heero answered, glaring at the Chinese pilot.

"How long before he's dangerous?" Trowa asked. Quatre elbowed him.

"I don't know," Heero admitted, looking out the window sadly.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Only a few miles down the road, Duo pulled the car he was driving off the road and into the trees, killing the engine once he was out of sight. He sat limply in the driver's seat, draped over the steering wheel as tried to think. Heero had shot him, several times, and he wasn't hurt. His mind drifted back to Oz and the injuries he had accumulated there. He was unable to make sense of the situation and it scared him. He raised his head and flopped back in the seat, staring at the roof of the car as though it would impart some great secret to him. None came.

He had heard Heero's response to the other pilots' inquiries even as he was speeding down the road. The blood transfusion comment had confused him. The only transfusions he had received had been from Quatre's medical staff. Surely they couldn't be to blame. They wouldn't do something like that intentionally and it was unlikely that they had stumbled onto a blood donation from a vampire. His eyes narrowed in sudden understanding and he scowled openly. He was distracted before he could think further on his realization.

For several minutes, he had heard his friends arguing before they fell into silence at Heero's final pronouncement. He was going to go insane. Even without having heard that statement, Duo would have concluded he was going mad just from the mere fact he could hear his friends at this distance from them.

His friends. Duo rolled his head to the side and glanced into the night. Heero had tried to kill him. After what the other three had heard, he didn't doubt that Trowa and Wufei would be willing to kill him as well. He wasn't sure about Quatre. The blond was the most sensitive and innocent of the group, but he was still a gundam pilot. That made him dangerous.

Feeling hollow, Duo got out of the car, wondering what he was supposed to do now. A sudden urge to run rampant through the Oz ranks until someone managed to kill him came to mind. He almost laughed aloud when he realized he was actually considering doing it.

Duo started walking aimlessly, absently rubbing at the dried blood covering him from head to foot. He wondered dryly if the other pilots had started looking for him yet or if they were still talking about him. Realization struck and Duo frowned. He couldn't hear them anymore. He concentrated on the other four pilots, gasping as an image suddenly came to mind.

_Quatre was sitting in a rickety old chair, the only one still standing after the battle between Heero and Duo had ended. He was trying very hard to hide the fact that he was crying. Trowa was standing beside him, his visible green eye flickering occasionally out the window. Heero was gathering weapons and finishing splintering the already broken chairs into workable stakes. Wufei was nowhere to be seen._

_Irritated, Duo shifted his gaze, reflexively reaching up to scrub his bangs out of his eyes like he did when he was annoyed. A hand came into view and he nearly cried out, barely silencing himself in time. Instead of a shocked bark, a choked noise sounded in the back of his throat. Quatre's gaze seemed to settle on him._

"_Are you okay, Wufei?" the blond asked softly, scrubbing at his eyes._

"_Fine," Duo answered, hearing Wufei's voice form the words._

"_You know it's necessary," Trowa said in a soft voice, wincing slightly when Quatre glared at him angrily, tears clouding his aquamarine eyes._

_Duo wasn't paying attention to them. He was careful to keep the Chinese pilot's face blank of any emotion, but inside he was shocked to the core. He was in control of the raven-haired pilot. It took several moments to compose his mind before he could turn to face Heero, who was on his way out the door._

"_Where are you going?" Duo asked._

"_After Duo," Heero snarled, glaring at him suspiciously. "I've already told you that!"_

"_Kisama," Duo snarled, glaring right back. He was worried that he had accidentally tipped off the astute Japanese pilot. "I know that! But WHERE?"_

_Heero paused to consider, before shrugging. "Deathscythe," he responded. "He's bound to go for his gundam when he calms down."_

"_You really intend to go through with this, Heero?"_

_Heero looked at him strangely, considering. Making up his mind, he scowled blackly and stalked over to deck Wufei, knocking out the smaller Chinese pilot. Blackness crept into Duo's vision. The last thing he caught was Heero's angry response._

"_He already asked me that, Duo."_

Gasping, Duo jerked into awareness, realizing that he was lying on the ground in the middle of the woods. Cursing darkly, he scrambled to his feet and ran for his gundam where it was hidden several miles away. He would be able to cover the distance in the matter of a few minutes and escape with it before Heero could get there.

"Screw them!" Duo hissed, speeding up slightly. "If they don't want to work with me anymore, I'll fight solo! I don't need them!" Despite his tirade, he fervently hoped that Wufei hadn't gotten hurt because of him.

He reached the cave that he had just barely managed to stuff Deathscythe into, scrambling for the cockpit and launching. He flipped on his cloaking abilities and radar blockers, knowing that Heero would try to follow him.

After setting his course and engaging the autopilot, Duo tried to relax into the chair to sleep. He would need to be well rested before the next night when he confronted the purple-haired bastard that had given him that injection of blood plasma.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Heero!" Quatre cried out, running to interfere with the larger Japanese pilot when he pointed his gun at Wufei. "What are you doing?"

"Duo has control of him," Heero snapped, shoving the blond away from him. "Wufei never repeats himself. And he's never called me by my first name." Trowa stopped him before he could attempt to fire a second time. "Duo must have unintentionally bonded Wufei when he bit him."

"If that's true, then he'll be fine once you kill Duo," the brunette stated bluntly.

"Trowa!" Quatre wailed. "You can't! Duo didn't ask to be attacked!" Trowa stared at the ground, unable to meet the blonde's azure eyes. "Heero, you can't do this! It's not his fault!"

"A dog's not to blame when it goes rabid," Heero snapped, finally abandoning his efforts to kill the Chinese pilot. "But you still shoot it."

Trowa flinched at Heero's choice of words, but remained silent. Heero suddenly stalked to the window, ignoring Quatre's stuttered protests. He squinted against the darkness and scowled at the small flicker of light he saw vanish into the sky.

"What is it?" Trowa asked.

"He escaped in Deathscythe," Heero spat. "Now he'll be almost impossible to find."

"Good," Quatre said angrily. Heero rounded on him, bristling. "You have no right to kill him, Heero. He hasn't done anything wrong."

"Quatre," Heero started warningly. He was stopped by a groggy question.

"How?"

Heero immediately spun on his toes, gun once again aimed at Wufei's head. Quatre got in the way, glaring into cobalt eyes when the gun wasn't lowered. Unable to stand by silently any longer, Trowa wrapped his hand around the barrel of Heero's gun and pulled it to the side slightly.

"How?" Wufei repeated, oblivious to the transaction taking place in front of him. His eyes remained locked onto some point on the floor only he could see. "How did he do that, Yuy? How did he control me like that?"

"You didn't resist when he bit you," Heero snapped, yanking his gun out of Trowa's grasp impatiently. "That allows him to turn you into his slave if he wishes it."

"But Duo wouldn't…" Quatre started to object, trailing off when Heero glared at him.

"I doubt he even knew what he was doing," Heero snapped. "But it's too late. Wufei is his slave now." All the blood drained from Wufei's face. "The only way to reverse it is to kill Duo."

"You're not killing Duo," Quatre protested.

"I could shoot Wufei instead," Heero hissed. He glanced at the gun still in his hand before returning his gaze to the Chinese pilot on the floor. "He's a liability now."

"Is there any way I could just prevent him from doing that?" Wufei asked, still not looking up. "Can't I fight back?"

"No."

"I want to know how you know all of this," Trowa said quietly. Heero's eyes flashed with anger for an instant before he sighed and nodded.

"L1 is crawling with them," he answered. "I've been fighting them my entire life." He suddenly grinned nastily. "I'd have thought you of all people would understand, Trowa. After all, L3 is infested with werewolves."

Quatre gasped and stepped away from the brunette, staring at him wide-eyed. Wufei looked up at him wearily, no longer caring if what Heero was insinuating was true. He was still in shock from all that had happened. Trowa stared back impassively, crossing his arms in a direct challenge.

"What of it?" he asked blandly. Quatre moved several paces further away from him, his aquamarine eyes growing wild. "I've killed more of them than I can count. I never said I didn't understand your motives. I was simply unaware of the existence of vampires and I know very little of them beyond a few rumors and legends."

Heero nodded, accepting his answer.

"Kill them with wood," he said quickly, glancing out the window again in the direction he had seen Duo flying. "The sheer amount of damage they can recover from makes most other injuries a waste of your time."

"Silver?" Trowa asked. Heero shook his head.

"Won't do a thing."

"Garlic?" the brunette pilot tried again. Heero actually laughed.

"I'd like to find the idiot that started that rumor and hand them to a vampire. The only way garlic will kill a vampire is if they die laughing at whoever brandishes it at them."

"Crosses? Holy water?"

"If that worked, the cross on Duo's neck would have already killed him."

"Sunlight?" Trowa asked, growing frustrated at how little he knew. He continued to ignore the glares Quatre was issuing both of them. Heero nodded.

"That will work if you can stay alive long enough for the sun to rise," he said. "Fire will work as well. Decapitation is a sure kill." He looked at Trowa curiously. "What about your side? I've never fought a wolf."

"Severe allergy to silver, but it's not a sure kill," Trowa rattled off dryly. "Just inflict a mass amount of damage if you want to kill one. Beheading is usually implemented to ensure a kill. Disembowelment usually works well. Transformation is voluntary. The full moon has nothing to do with it. And it's highly contagious, even from a dead wolf."

Heero nodded stiffly. "That's the same as I've heard before from other sources." He didn't elaborate on his sources and the other pilots knew better than to question him. "Are there any on Earth?"

"If I knew of any, I'd have already responded accordingly," Trowa responded wryly.

Heero nodded again. "Fair enough."

"Duo's mission," Wufei spoke up suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "We found him nearly dead in a phone booth. He refused to tell us what happened."

"What are you babbling about?" Heero snapped.

"His arm," Wufei said suddenly. "He was given an injection of some sort. That's when it happened. He's going back to confront whoever did it."

"How do you know?" Trowa asked slowly. Heero cursed loudly.

"Duo must have realized it," Heero explained tensely. "His mind is bonded to Wufei's and until Duo learns to block his thoughts, Wufei will hear some of them."

"Great," Wufei groaned.

"Where is he?" Heero asked, oblivious to the dazed pilot's unease.

"Tokyo," Wufei answered immediately. Heero scowled.

"I know that much! We found him there, remember?"

"A small nightclub downtown," Wufei elaborated. His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to sift through Duo's hectic thoughts. "He's after someone named Xellos."

"Shit!" Heero and Trowa cried in unison. The two pilots exchanged knowing looks while Quatre and Wufei watched them in confusion.

"Xellos," Trowa hissed, starting to pace. He didn't notice how badly he was frightening Quatre by pacing, something he had never done before.

"How in the hell did that baka find him?" Heero ground out. He swore again and punched the wall. Wufei jumped slightly at the sound and looked up from where he was still sitting on the floor.

"G sent Duo to kill him," Wufei said numbly.

"G is a dead man," Heero snapped.

"See if you can help Duo," Trowa said suddenly, heading for the door. "I'll meet you there."

"Where are you going?" Heero asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to contact the mercenaries I traveled with a few years ago," Trowa answered in his usual monotone. "I hunted wolves with them. They'll be useful in a battle like this." Heero nodded stiffly.

"I'll set up a signal for you to home in on," he said.

"Only do it if you have the time. I can find you."

Heero glanced at him warily but didn't voice his thoughts. Grunting, he gathered his weapons and laptop in a matter of seconds before heading for his gundam. Wufei was on his feet and heading for the door on his heels, leaving Quatre alone in the safe house. Sighing, the little blond followed them, hoping he could prevent them from killing Duo while they leveled part of Tokyo.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Okay now… I'm getting mean here and I know it. But things must get worse before they can get better. I'm just evil like that. Oh, and updates are going to slow a bit further. Work and all, you understand… I'll write whenever I can, but it's going to take me awhile. Soothe my poor, broken mind. R&R!


	8. VIII

After Dark

Part VIII

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

With a bit of persuasion and a lot of money stolen from Oz accounts, Heero managed to convince the owners of a small apartment complex to give him a room that same day. From the window, he watched the small unassuming club across the street, unblinking.

He, Quatre and Wufei had arrived at the location early in the morning. Only Heero was awake, the other two pilots getting some much needed sleep. The perfect soldier didn't bother them, knowing that once the sun set, they would need all their strength. He honestly didn't expect Xellos to show himself before then anyways. After all, the club was closed off and boarded up by day.

It wasn't until a few minutes before sunset when Trowa arrived. Heero saw him approach the complex easily. Surrounded by fifty or so filthy, scowling men, he wasn't exactly easy to miss. Trowa raised his gaze to lock eyes from Heero. He didn't hold the stare, looking back to the men accompanying him and saying something that caused them to scatter into the city without a trace.

Trowa entered the room only seconds later. If Heero was surprised by the speed he was able to move to get to the third floor in that time, he didn't show it. He merely frowned slightly at the expressionless pilot.

"Those are mercenaries?" he asked bluntly.

"Every man you saw has killed over a hundred wolves," Trowa answered disinterestedly. Heero grunted. "They can take care of themselves."

"Where did you send them?"

"Off to prepare for nightfall. They'll be back before we need them."

"Hn."

Trowa pushed past him to look out of the window at the nightclub for a few seconds. He looked back at Heero several times, emerald eyes troubled. Finally, he turned to face the scowling Japanese pilot fully.

"Hold your fire if you see Duo," he said finally. Heero's eyes widened.

"Why?" he demanded.

"I have reason to believe he hasn't fully turned yet."

Heero pushed Trowa into the wall, wild cobalt eyes demanding an answer. Trowa simply shrugged him off, refusing to elaborate. For several seconds, Heero fought with himself, debating the European's words and wondering if he could trust them. Finally, he made his decision and nodded reluctantly, knowing that Trowa wouldn't have said anything had he not been absolutely sure of his information.

"What formation will the mercenaries take?" he asked, switching subjects. Trowa's lips turned upward in a macabre smile.

"They'll work around us," he responded quietly. "They're accustomed to hand to hand combat, so watch where you aim."

Heero glanced at him, shocked by the amused barb the pilot had tacked on to the end of his commentary. His aim was perfect. Trowa's warning was completely unnecessary. He was considering retorting to the jibe when the taller brunette left the room to wake the other two pilots.

The other three pilots entered the living area in under a minute. Impassive as always, Trowa wandered to the window to glance at the club, already knowing that there was nothing to see, but feeling it necessary to check in his restless mood. Quatre glared at Heero and Trowa and refused to say anything, opting to retreat to the small kitchen to mope in solitude. Resigned to his fate, Wufei simply settled to the floor near the wall, waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

Without warning, Trowa shoved Heero to the floor in his sudden urgency to get to the window. He only peered out for a moment before swearing and running for the door, Heero immediately on his heels. Sensing that something important was going on, both Quatre and Wufei dragged themselves out of their own thoughts to follow the two sprinting pilots. Mercenaries were already swarming the area when they exited the apartment complex.

The sun had gone down.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Duo shook his head in amusement. Four pilots and several dozen mercenaries were swarming the streets and preparing to enter a seemingly innocent nightclub, the former armed with various implements of destruction and the latter using only their bare hands. Duo, however, had absolutely no intention of going inside. He knew what was in there and had no desire to enter a second time.

Sighing, Duo reconsidered his position. Even though he didn't want to enter the underground lair, he didn't feel comfortable letting his friends go in alone. Mentally cursing Heero's impatience and interference, he ghosted out of his hiding spot and tried to blend into the mercenaries as they thundered into the deadly establishment. Several of the men eyed him strangely and one went so far as to take a swing at him, but in the end he succeeded in hiding in the masses.

The moment the mercenaries and pilots entered reached the bottom of the shadowed stairs, they were met with a bloodbath. The pilots were trying desperately to hold off over a thousand vampires with only a few crossbows and stakes. The mercenaries each held some sort of blade and were darting through the pale figures faster than Duo had ever seen anyone move. Duo had only the small knives he kept hidden in his boots to fight with. Even with the mercenaries, they had no chance to win. They were quickly surrounded and forced into a small knot.

It was pure reflex that caused Duo to ram Heero and knock him to the ground a moment before a thrown knife would have hit him in the chest. Duo grunted and ripped the blade out of his shoulder, using it in collaboration with one of his other knives to behead the nearest vampire. He didn't need to glance down at Heero to know that the Japanese pilot had turned his crossbow sights on him.

"Pull the stick out of your ass and pay attention!" Duo snapped, decapitating another figure that strayed too close to him. "I'm here to help!"

A jerking movement in the corner of his eye alerted Duo that Heero had pulled the trigger to his crossbow. Expecting a bolt to connect with the side of his head, Duo tensed. His jaw dropped in shock when the wooden shaft passed a hairsbreadth from his nose, thudding stolidly into an approaching figure he hadn't seen in his argument with Heero.

All of the vampires near Duo pulled back several feet and he froze, expecting some sort of trap. His suspicion was increased when he noticed that a respectable clearing was forming around all of them. In a few minutes, at the very most, they would have been overrun and killed.

Pain lanced through Duo and he gasped loudly, dropping to his knees. His hands clawed at his heart, tears streaking his face. A hand slipped under one of his arms, pulling him to unsteady feet. Shocked at Heero's display of assistance, it took Duo a moment to realize that he was being addressed from somewhere in the crowd in front of him. Recognition dawned and he felt his blood turn to ice.

"So you survived after all," a smooth voice said.

Unwilling to look helpless in front of the purple-haired man a second time, Duo jerked away from Heero and stiffened, stubbornly ignoring the agony shredding his insides. Cursing loudly, he threw one of his knives directly at the smiling man, who easily caught the blade in midair and tossed it aside.

Undaunted, Duo charged, using his inhuman speed to throw himself at his opponent, knives leading. Xellos sidestepped him with ease, tripping him as he passed with some sort of staff in his hands. Aware that he had too much momentum behind him to stop, Duo dropped into a tight roll and flipped immediately to his feet, not pausing in his assault. He was deposited on the floor again.

"Stubborn," Xellos chuckled, moving a few feet back before Duo could get up to try again.

Duo started to get up again, freezing when the red orb at the end of the staff was held inches from his face. Growling at his own cowardice, he tried to roll away to gain distance to attack again. Fear lanced through him when he found that he couldn't move anything except his eyes.

"You see," Xellos beamed. "It's so much easier when you don't fight."

Duo flicked his eyes over to his friends, realizing that they were still surrounded and were unable to help him. He settled for glaring at the smiling face above him. He found himself rising to his feet against his will, following the movement of the staff.

"Why?" Duo grated, eyes flashing with hatred.

"Pardon?"

"Why me? Why this?"

Xellos beamed again, obviously pleased that Duo had asked. "Because of the man that sent you to kill me. When you arrived, I could only assume who had given you the orders, but I checked after you left. The scientists from the colonies have been hunting me for many years now. They've already sent those two," he said, waving his hand absently at the pilots.

Unbidden, Duo's eyes flickered over to where his friends were clustered, trying to protect themselves from the swarming vampires. The mercenaries were doing all they could, but they were slowly being pushed back. What was even more frightening was the fact that the vampires weren't trying yet.

"That's how they knew not to waste their time attacking during the day," Xellos continued. "I only show up after dark." Duo's eyes promised death, but the purple-haired man seemed not to notice. "As for why I chose to do this to you, it's simply so that I can send someone after those old men without drawing suspicion. They've found a way to hold me off, but they won't know to fight you."

"And what makes you think I'll cooperate?" Duo spat.

"Simple," Xellos smiled. "You don't have a choice."

Duo could feel his very being turn to ice at those words. His eyes widened in mute horror as the staff was pressed gently against his forehead. Fire lanced through his skull, spreading to race through his veins. He shrieked in agony, arching his back involuntarily as his muscles began to spasm from the pain.

Heero watched his friend suffer with clouded eyes. He forcefully reigned in the grief coursing through his soul from the crushed hope he had suffered. For a moment while they were fighting, he had allowed himself to believe that Duo would be okay. Grimly, he raised the crossbow in his hands and pointed it at the braided pilot.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

For those of you who are complaining that I'm being too mean to Duo, I'm sorry! It can't be helped in a fic like this. ;_;

And for those of you who DO like Duo torture, I have a fic out called Afterimages. Since it's NC-17, it probably won't be posted here, but I'll leave notes on the homepage so you can find it. That one is going to be as realistic as I can manage. And, just to warn you, it will be extremely brutal, even by my standards.


	9. IX

After Dark

Part IX

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

It took all of his willpower to force his finger to pull the trigger. He was only able to do it when he saw the prominent fangs forming in the braided boy's mouth, proving that he had reached the end of his ability to resist. Aim true, the crossbow bolt shot straight towards Duo's heart where he stood immobile, screaming. Before the bolt reached it's target, Duo's eyes flashed gold and he snatched the wooden arrow out of the air gracefully.

Snarling, Duo whipped his hand forward, sending the bolt back to its owner. Not expecting the instant retaliation, Heero grunted and staggered when the wooden shaft embedded itself firmly into his chest, directly through his left lung, clipping his heart. Trowa tried to catch him as he slumped to the ground, unresponsive. Even knowing that it was medically irresponsible to do so, at the same time, he couldn't leave it in for any length of time. He ripped the bolt out and threw it to the ground, trying to stop the flow of blood with the palm of his hand.

The move left him defenseless. He realized his mistake when he felt something slam into his back. He would have fallen over, but whatever was in his back was holding him up. Feeling the blood trickling down his chest, his eyes flickered downwards, locking disbelievingly onto the fingers protruding from his chest directly beside his sternum, crippling his right lung. Vision fading, he tried to take a breath, choking on the blood welling up in his lungs.

Quatre cried out and tried to move forward to pull Duo off of the tall pilot. His efforts were thwarted instantly when a bronzed hand clamped around his upper arm, throwing him to the ground. Reflexively, he rolled back to his feet to face his attacker. Aquamarine eyes widened in shock and disbelief when he found himself facing Wufei, sword held between them. The Chinese pilot's eyes were glazed.

Knowing that the small blond pilot was about to be skewered by the controlled Chinese teen, Trowa swung his elbow back, aiming for Duo's face. As he expected, he was dropped, a booted foot lashing out to meet his ribs mid fall. Gritting his teeth, Trowa rolled away. He wasn't fast enough. Before he could regain his bearings, he was hauled into the air by his neck. The world began to spin. Desperate, he let out a whimpering noise, praying that the mercenaries would understand him.

In the commotion of the battle between mercenaries and vampires, he wasn't heard. Clenching his teeth and fighting off the darkness, Trowa forced his abused lungs to draw breath through his crushed throat. He let out a half-human shriek that rang clearly through the air.

The thirty-four remaining mercenaries responded immediately. Weapons clattered to the floor, abandoned and useless. Loud cracking noises and growls filled the air. Muscles and organs moved as sinew and tendon relocated, reformed. Thick fur began to sprout from filthy skin. Even though there were over a thousand vampires, they pulled back, afraid. One thousand to thirty-four, the vampires backed away from the battle-hardened werewolves.

Duo dropped Trowa instantly, backing away from the gasping brunette youth. Trowa's head snapped up, eyes flashing gold in the gloom as he bared elongated canines at the braided vampire. The European pilot took a staggering step towards his former friend, unafraid of the battle presented to him. The two supernatural creatures faced off for several seconds before Duo turned and vanished into the darkness with the other vampires and Xellos. Wufei started to follow, but was knocked cold by Quatre the moment his attention was diverted.

Quatre's gaze was locked onto his best friend even as he knelt down to help Heero, who was still bleeding profusely. Heero's former taunt echoed in his mind on repeat. _After all, L3 is infested with werewolves._

The little blond tried not to shiver with fear as he carefully carried Heero towards the stairs, Trowa following behind with Wufei over his shoulders and several dozen enormous wolves following at his heels.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Wufei bucked mindlessly, frothing at the mouth as he fought against the bindings holding him helpless. Blindfolded, he couldn't tell where he was, and thus neither could Duo. Inability to see, however, didn't prevent him from fighting brutally to be free.

In the far corner of the safe house, Quatre sat crying, trying to deny what was happening. In one night, he felt he had lost all of his friends. Both Duo and Wufei were mindless creatures of destruction, neither able to defend themselves against what had happened. Trowa was a monster. The tall European pilot who had been his best friend, who he had hoped would someday be even more, was a furry beast. Even Heero, who Quatre had almost turned to, had ended up driving away the small blond. The stoic L1 pilot was now set on killing all of the pilots except Quatre. They'd been forced to tie him up and drug him.

Trowa was no more optimistic than the Arabian pilot. He knew the situation they were in was hopeless. To him, three of his comrades were now a threat and the fourth was positively terrified of him. Sighing, he deliberately ignored Wufei's weakening struggles and Heero's cold glare from where he was bound helplessly in the corner, unable to move due to the drugs in his system.

Moving across the small safe house, he pounded loudly on the door to the room where Quatre was crying. He couldn't take it anymore. Something had to be done. Even if it was a futile effort, he wanted the blond to come out for a few minutes. He didn't know what to do and wasn't opposed to any sort of action, no matter how useless it seemed.

"Come out," he called through the door. "I want you to try again."

"No."

Trowa frowned at the muffled response and thumped the door again with his knuckles, fully intent on getting the blond out of the room, even if it entailed dragging him by his silk boxers.

"He's getting tired. It might work this time. Come out," he entreated, using up his vocabulary for the day.

A wary aquamarine eye peered out through the tiniest crack in the fractionally opened door. Trowa moved away from the unnerved pilot, knowing he was still uncomfortable with the whole situation. Quatre didn't move to leave the room until Trowa finally retreated into the next room.

When Quatre finally approached the main room, Trowa seated himself firmly beside Heero, crossing his legs in a position that would clearly take him time to rise. His proximity caused Heero to renew his struggles against his bonds and the tranquilizers running through his system.

He only glanced once to make sure that Wufei couldn't escape his bonds before intentionally diverting his attention away from the blond. If Quatre saw that he was being watched, he would retreat to his room in an instant. As it was, he only caught a glimpse of the Arabian pilot gingerly reaching out to his Chinese counterpart.

Concentrating on Heero so as not to upset his friend, he decided he would try again to calm down the Japanese pilot as long as he was sitting beside him. He leaned down to whisper directly into his friend's ear.

"I know you're probably still not listening to me, but I'll try again anyways. The scientists know about me. They're the ones that came up with the medication to keep myself and the mercenaries sane." Heero simply bucked again, trying to clip Trowa with his skull. The European pilot frowned, his temper finally getting the best of him. "If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have done it already," he snapped. Heero froze, suspicious cobalt eyes boring into irate emerald.

They were both distracted from their heated glares when Wufei and Quatre let out simultaneous pained shrieks.

A moment later, Trowa collapsed, convulsing helplessly on the floor.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Quatre sat in the corner of the smallest room of the safe house, in a definite state of panic. He barely registered the tears streaming down his cheeks. His entire life had fallen apart. All of his friends were gone, and with them, the hopes of winning the war. He couldn't defeat the Alliance by himself. Heero was as good as mad in the state he was in. Trowa couldn't be trusted. Duo and Wufei were blatant threats. Sobbing, he curled into a tighter ball, feeling more alone than he had in his entire life.

He was shocked out of his self-pity when someone knocked loudly. Flinching, he scrabbled for the gun at his hip, pointing it at the door nervously.

"Come out," a flat voice called through the closed door. "I want you to try again."

"No," he answered miserably, trying his best to sound firm.

"He's getting tired. It might work this time. Come out."

Frowning, Quatre moved hesitantly towards the door, gun leading. Pulling the door open a mere hair, he peeked out, staring nervously at Trowa where he was standing across the hall. Unwilling to leave the room, he stayed where he was until the taller pilot moved away from the room and into the tiny living room. More confident in his safety, Quatre inched out of the room.

He found Trowa seated on the floor when he entered the living room, very close to Heero, who was still in the process of throwing an almighty fit. He had to restrain himself from flinching when emerald eyes flickered from him to Wufei. Clenching his teeth, he firmly told himself that the European pilot was simply reassuring himself that the Chinese pilot was firmly bound.

Taking a deep breath, he reached towards Wufei, who was still writhing in his bonds. He settled his hands on the Chinese pilot's jaws, pushing his mind forwards. Chaos surged out to meet him and he had to forcefully pull his mind under control so as to not be swept away in the madness that he found.

What Trowa had told him proved to be true. Wufei was indeed tiring. Feeling confident, he pushed further into the turmoil, searching for some remnant of his friend. Half forgotten memories and emotions of pure terror flowed past him as he pushed deeper.

Able to move so freely in his friend's mind, he lost track of where he was. Only belatedly did he realize that he was too deep to withdraw without hurting either one or both of them. He cursed himself for his stupidity. In a matter of seconds, he had fallen out of control of his own empathic abilities. His pride and self-confidence had gotten the better of him and he knew he would now be paying the price for it.

Desperate, he flailed around with the remaining fragment of his free mind, catching the tail end of Trowa's one-sided conversation with Heero.

"If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have done it already!"

Quatre froze, the logic of that simple statement resonating in his skull. Despite himself, he realized that Trowa must have been like he was for a long time. And he had done nothing to hurt them. He almost wanted to laugh, suddenly recognizing the reason why the tall pilot was able to work with the animals at the circus so easily. He was one of them.

Now confident of his actions, Quatre wrenched himself free of his comrade's mind, intentionally drawing Wufei's psyche with him. The pain of the psychological shift caused both of the pilots to howl in agony, unintentionally drawing the attention of the two brunette pilots in the far corner of the room.

Desperate for anything that could save him from the pain of his own mind, Quatre lashed out towards the first familiar mind he could find, latching frantically onto the stability he found. Trowa cried out in pain as he was drawn involuntarily into the chaotic battle.

While the other three pilots were occupied in their pain, Heero deftly slipped out of the handcuffs and ropes binding him. He wasted no time in retrieving his gun.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Sorry. I know that was short. My free time is virtually nonexistent. I'm going as fast as I can, but with everything I have to do, that doesn't mean much. R&R to let me know that you still love me. ^_^;

For those of you who didn't see that werewolf thing coming, shame on you! I left a very good hint to those means, so if you didn't see it, you need to be beaten like a piñata. Except if you're male. Then you can be excused on the fact that men don't pick up on any sort of hints. Hell, most men don't recognize direct orders. And those that do… Well, you kind of have to wonder…

And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I am evil incarnate. It's fun, you know?


	10. X

After Dark

Part X

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Being drugged had no effect on the Perfect Soldier. He was trained to ignore almost anything conceivable. No sedative would slow him down. With only minor concentration, he was able to shake off the effects of the drugs they had given him to keep him under control.

There was no hesitation as Heero leveled his gun at Wufei. Of his two targets in the room, the Chinese teen was the greater threat. After listening to Trowa, he had decided to accept the other pilot until he was forced to do otherwise. Before he could pull the trigger, the Asiatic youth jerked a final time and went still. The only discernable movement was the quivering of his jaw.

Heero paused at the vulnerable expression on the other boy's face. Something was off and it bothered him. He cursed himself for being weak, but made no move to correct his actions. In the short delay, he noticed that both Quatre and Trowa had gone still as well. Growling, he moved to tie up the two unbound pilots. He froze for a second time when he heard Wufei speak. Every muscle in his body went rigid in disbelief. Slaves of vampires could not speak while under direct control. Either Duo was speaking or Wufei was temporarily in control.

"Where am I?" he asked tentatively. Heero remained silent, glaring at the raven-haired youth. "Winner? I know you're there. I could feel you. What did you do?" He stopped again, breathing heavily. "What did you do, Winner?" he shouted, tears seeping past his blindfold. "Maxwell is dying!"

At this, Heero moved, gripping Wufei's throat in a crushing motion and hauling him into the air, chair and all.

"What are you talking about?" he snapped.

"Maxwell," he gasped. "Winner… empathy… killing him…"

Grudgingly accepting the fact that suffocating the person you were interrogating was fairly counterproductive, Heero placed Wufei back on the floor and released his grip. He growled softly.

"Explain."

"I'm linked to Maxwell. Whatever Winner did affected him too. Something's wrong, but I don't know what. Maxwell is dying. I can feel him."

Heero pulled back, frowning as he reviewed everything he knew about vampires. What he heard had a ring of truth to it. The mental links vampires established weren't constructed to withstand the blow of an empath. It was obvious that Quatre had been tampering with the Chinese boy's mind. After a short internal debate, he lowered his gun, choosing to believe the impossible. That Quatre had succeeded in freeing the minds of his friends.

"Where is he?" Heero asked. Wufei swiveled his head to the side and frowned.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But he's in that direction." Heero followed the movement of his head. North.

Nodding, he walked to where Trowa was still lying dazed on the floor, slow to regain his senses. Heero grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. After blinking several times, obviously trying to force his vision to clear, he jerked slightly in Heero's grasp, trying to pull away. After receiving a blank look from the Japanese pilot, he was left to stand on his own as Heero moved to rouse the small blond pilot.

"What's going on?" Trowa asked warily, struggling with himself to keep from drawing a weapon on the freed Japanese pilot.

"Duo's somewhere to the north. We're going after him," Heero answered. He frowned when Quatre just murmured sleepily and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. Grunting in irritation, he pulled the blond pilot to his feet, holding him up for a few seconds while the groggy Arabian struggled to regain his senses.

During the entire exchange, Trowa's eyes flickered between the other three pilots, concentrating on Heero. He finally relaxed slightly, coming to the conclusion that if Heero had wanted to kill them, he could have done so easily while they were unconscious. He smirked at his thoughts, having used the same reasoning on Heero only minutes prior.

The three unbound pilots began to pack the massive collection of weapons they had brought with them, preparing to leave. Heero moved to collect Wufei to take him down to the van Trowa had managed to procure when the Chinese pilot stiffened in his chair. Reflexively, Heero raised his gun, ready to fire if the other boy so much as shifted.

"Maxwell," he mumbled. Heero made a point of pulling back the hammer of his gun, the movement producing a distinctive click. Wufei held still, waiting for the order he would undoubtedly receive.

"Explain," Heero snapped.

"I can't feel him anymore."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Pain._

_Darkness._

_Searing cold_.

A shivering figure on a nondescript stone floor flopped weakly, unable to stand. He drew a shuddering breath and went still. Consciousness flickered. His battered mind tried to feed him information, but the miserable feelings that registered in his mind were weak and poorly organized, only marginally more coherent than moments ago.

_I'm alone._

_Helpless._

_Where am I?_

_Sound._

_Someone's coming._

_I smell blood._

_Danger_.

Blurry violet eyes opened again. Grunting, Duo tried to lever himself off of the floor again, his groggy mind snapping to full attention at the knowledge of the approaching danger. He hissed out a pained breath and slumped to the ground again.

_I need to move. I have to. Someone's coming_, he thought. He bared his teeth in realization. _Xellos_.

It was only pure orneriness that caused him to stagger to his feet. He was too weak to walk properly and he leaned against the wall for support. Teeth could be heard grinding in fury as he slowly walked away from where he heard the approaching footsteps. He could smell the slight draft of fresh air down the hall he was currently in and knew that there was an exit from whatever underground hideout he had been brought to.

He didn't hesitate before shoving the door open with his remaining strength and staggering out onto the street, wincing at the light from the setting sun. He glared miserably at the faint traces of light still peeking over the horizon, slowly fading as the day turned to night. Having spent so much time in complete blackness, the meager light burned his eyes. Ignoring his watering eyes, he began his drudging walk down the street.

Exhaustion set in immediately. He leaned against a wall for a few seconds, catching his breath and picking a few pockets as people passed by him. He staggered towards the street and flagged down a taxi, barely paying attention to where he ordered the driver to take him, his thoughts burning on his revenge.

_You caught me off guard, freak,_ Duo thought darkly. _It won't happen again. Soon, I'll teach you why I call myself Shinigami._

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Sorry about the delay. Work is chaotic. I'll do what I can to keep posting though. R&R!

Oh, and shameless begging here. Go read Afterimages. I worked really hard on that one! It's finally done now. If you've gotten this far in this story, I can only assume you like the violent ones. It has plenty of Duo torture, so go read it!


	11. XI

After Dark

Part XI

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Duo sat with his laptop resting on his knees, typing almost frantically. Information and images flickered by so quickly that most people would never have seen anything but a blur. Violet eyes narrowed as they skimmed the data at inhuman speeds. One classified file in particular caught his interest and he stopped to look at the information more carefully. His temper flared.

Tracing back to a well-known computer, he bypassed the security in a matter of seconds, familiar with the system. The endless information poured out across the screen. What he found caused him to grind his teeth audibly. He continued to pick through the files until one of the screens told him something that caused his temper to snap.

"THOSE SONS OF BITCHES!" he roared. "They knew! They fucking KNEW what they were sending me after! They knew what would happen to me!" An eerie calm settled over his soul. Amethyst eyes burned with cold fire. He quickly gathered his meager belongings and his laptop and turned to leave.

Shinigami walked silently out of the hotel room.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Shit!" Wufei swore suddenly, collapsing just inside of the small safe house and clutching his head in both hands.

"What's wrong?" Quatre asked softly, kneeling beside the Chinese pilot. He stubbornly ignored the gun Heero had leveled at them.

"It's Maxwell," he gritted out. A slight convulsion ran through his hunched frame and he groaned loudly. "I can feel him again."

"At least he's still alive," Trowa offered drolly. Heero glared at him.

Silently, Quatre placed his hands over Wufei's, his aquamarine eyes sliding shut of their own volition. A frown spread across his face. After another few seconds, he pulled back with a pensive look on his face.

"Fuck," he muttered. Trowa's jaw dropped open, the stoic pilot losing his mask at the shock of hearing the blond swear. Even Heero's eyes widened.

"Well?" the Japanese pilot demanded, forcing himself to ignore his disbelief at the smaller boy's choice of words.

"Duo's constructed several mental walls to prevent himself from being sensed. Whether he's hiding from us or someone else, I don't know."

"Who else would he be hiding from?" Heero snapped.

"I don't know," he answered absentmindedly. He looked up, worry clear on his pale features. "He's furious. And… and he's looking for us."

"And he knows where we are," Wufei muttered from his place on the floor. "Nataku. I never thought anyone could be that angry. It felt like my head was going to explode."

"How long before he gets here?" Trowa asked.

"I don't know."

The sound of a gun cocking echoed loudly in the silence of the decrepit safe house. Wufei lifted his gaze to stare at the muzzle of the large handgun in Heero's hands. The click of a hammer being pulled back followed instantly, Trowa pointing his own gun at Heero's skull.

"He's become a liability," Heero hissed at him.

"You know damn well that if Duo wants to find us it's only a matter of time," Trowa countered. "With Wufei here, we at least know he's coming."

Cursing loudly in Japanese, Heero holstered his gun. Trowa hesitantly followed suit.

"He'll be here within the hour," he ground out.

"What?" Quatre squeaked.

"We were looking for him," Heero elaborated, glaring at the Arabian as though he was being intentionally dense. "We're in the last area that Wufei sensed him. He could be just outside for all we know."

A small creaking noise made everyone jump, guns in hand as they searched frantically for the source of the sound. A violet-eyed face appeared in front of Heero upside down, the American hanging from the rafters by his ankles.

"Ah, but I'm not outside," Duo purred.

Heero attempted to redirect his aim to Duo's skull, hoping the shots would buy him a few seconds of time to locate a stake. He never got the chance. A flying tackle knocked him to the floor and he found himself grappling with a senseless Chinese pilot. Duo shook his head slowly, dropping to the floor. Well aware of the two guns trained on his skull, he raised his arms in unconditional surrender. He was inwardly impressed that his fellow pilots had enough restraint not to try to kill him on sight.

"Release Wufei," Trowa ordered.

"As soon as Heero stops trying to shoot me," Duo countered dryly. "It can't exactly kill me, but it stings a bit, you know."

"Duo?" Quatre asked uncertainly. "Are you still… you?"

Duo nodded sharply. "I just came here to share a few bits of information I've come across before I leave to take Xellos's head."

At that statement, Heero froze, allowing Wufei the break he needed to pin him completely. He stared intently at Duo, cobalt eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"You already lost," he said. Though he tried to keep his voice emotionless, a hint of disbelief and hope filtered through.

"Quatre snapped me out of it when he was doing whatever it was that he was doing to Wufei," Duo responded in a resigned tone.

"What do you want?" Heero asked coldly.

"As I already said, I want to tell you a few things before I go on what will most likely be a suicide run," Duo sighed. "Though I wouldn't object to help in killing that bastard."

Heero nodded slowly. "Speak."

Wufei immediately came out of the trance he was in, blinking several times before releasing the Japanese teen in his grip and scooting away. He looked up at Duo expectantly.

"Where to start," Duo pondered. The strained grin he attempted came out as more of a pained grimace. He looked up suddenly. "Did you know that the Mad Five sent me on that mission knowing who and what Xellos is and exactly what would happen to me?"

"What?" Quatre blurted.

"They knew," Duo growled, eyes blazing. "They wanted this to happen." A strange murderous look flickered across his features and he continued before the other pilots could say anything. "Oh, but it gets better."

"Just spit it out," Heero snarled.

"You know that the scientists have antiviral medications for werewolves but not for vampires," he drawled. "Ever wondered why? It's simple really. They created the werewolves. Set them loose on L3."

Trowa made a strangled noise. "What?" he asked in a small voice.

"They also made it a common practice to experiment with children to test tolerance limits for slightly altered viruses, specifically the one responsible for creating vampires. Rumor has it that there was a survivor. He didn't die. Didn't turn into a vampire. Kind of got stuck halfway between the two forms. Too strong and too fast to be human. Able to recover from any injury or illness. Impervious to all of the things that can kill a vampire. The perfect soldier." He looked at Heero meaningfully. "Would explain why you're so touchy about the whole vampire thing. Never would have had you pegged as a half breed."

Quatre made a strange noise, eyes glued on Heero's face. The Japanese pilot drew a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Sensing the unspoken question, he resignedly opened his mouth. The other four pilots watched in utter silence as his canines grew to an impressive length before he snapped his jaw shut, glaring furiously at Duo.

"Believe it or not, there's more," Duo said, breaking the silence. All eyes returned to him as he continued. "They were the ones that released the plagues on L2. The diseases were similar to the viruses that create vampires and werewolves. They were altered enough that they couldn't turn someone, but they'd kill almost everyone who caught it. The survivors were put on the list as potential Gundam pilots. Afterwards, the survivors were tested to see who could withstand the greatest amount of psychological manipulation." A self-depreciating grin appeared on his face. "Selected because of my immune system and the fact that I'm an ornery little shit. How insulting. That's why they sent me on that mission without telling me anything. They wanted me to be turned. Took the gamble that I'd survive."

"Allah," Quatre whispered.

"All of this was done to fight Xellos," Duo continued. "I agree with the purpose, but not the methods."

"The ends do not justify the means," Wufei muttered.

"Exactly," Duo sighed. "After I deal with that purple-haired bastard, I'm going after the Mad Five. I just stopped by to tell you what's going on."

"You could have emailed us," Trowa said dryly.

"Like you would have read it," Duo groused.

"Fair enough," Trowa conceded, a strained smirk crossing his features. Duo stared at him for a moment, carefully inventorying how upset the banged pilot was over the sudden information he had been given on the scientists they had all been faithfully serving since the war began. He sighed.

"I'm sorry I sprang this on you without warning," Duo offered in a resigned tone. He steeled himself briefly before continuing. "Odds are that there's more to it than this. I was too pissed to research any further."

"Understandable," Wufei murmured, his voice slightly stronger than the last time he had spoken. Duo glanced at him contritely.

"Sorry about… um… using you like that," Duo said, suddenly finding his toes to be very interesting. "I just didn't want Heero to shoot me again. Even if it doesn't kill me, it really hurts, you know?"

Wufei managed a droll chuckle. "I imagine. It's all right, Maxwell. I'm not mad."

"Thanks," Duo murmured. "It's more than I deserve…" He cut himself off sharply, regaining his poise after a clear battle with his thoughts. "I'll leave now…"

"No," Heero cut him off. Duo's gaze snapped to him instantly. "I've been trying to find a way to kill him for years. The only way you'll succeed is if all of us help you." Duo nearly melted where he stood out of sheer gratitude.

"Thank you," he breathed. "I… would appreciate the help."

"So," Quatre intervened. "What are we going to do?"

Morbid glances were exchanged between Heero and Duo for several seconds before Trowa joined the staring match. After a few minutes of silent exchanges, Duo finally looked up at the two lost pilots.

"Considering who we're up against, the best thing to do would be…"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Sorry for the delay. I had a brain freeze and couldn't decide what to do with the fic. I still don't know exactly, but I decided to get a section out anywho. Please show me you love me for my efforts in writing fantasy into sci-fi. R&R!


	12. XII

After Dark

Part XII

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Before they could do anything, the five exhausted pilots began gathering information, unwilling to proceed before they knew everything about what they were up against.

Duo and Heero sat awake through the day in a room carefully shielded from the glaring sunlight. Slivers of light snuck into the room, causing Duo to flinch and shift positions several times to avoid the creeping threads of golden death. As a single unit, they began sifting through all of the information the Mad Five had hidden from them. Some of the security measures were almost impossible even for the two working in tandem.

Once they hacked past one of the locks, the two pilots began hunting through different files, intent on covering as much information as they could before they were booted off of the system. It had happened several times as the security systems objected to their snooping.

Heero had found many references to the experiment on L2. He knew that Duo was aware of the scientists being at fault for the plagues, but some of the other information he had uncovered made his blood run cold. They had intentionally orphaned children for the experiment to create the stress of living on the streets, cold and starving. He swore silently to himself that he would not be the one to tell Duo that G had personally organized the destruction of the Maxwell Church.

Duo suddenly cursed loudly.

"What?" Heero snapped, broken free of his thoughts.

"Those fucknuts are over three hundred!" Duo shouted, eyes blazing.

"The scientists?" Heero asked incredulously, shock distracting him from his hacking. Duo nodded tensely.

"Xellos… they found a way to summon him from some other dimension. Wanted him for a weapon," Duo reported, sentences choppy and unsteady. "They managed to control him for a few years. Forced him to make them immortal. He escaped shortly after. They've been trying to kill each other since."

Heero gaped, mind reeling. It took him several seconds to regain the ability to speak.

"How did they control him?" he managed in a weak voice. "Maybe we can do the same thing." Duo tapped a few more commands into the computer, his violet eyes flashing gold for an instant when he found what he was searching for.

"O," he said simply, mouth tight.

"What?" Heero demanded. "Explain."

"It would appear that he's a warlock."

"Shit," Heero snapped. "So much for that idea."

"Not necessarily," Duo muttered. Heero glanced at him curiously, almost frightened by the cold, calculating look on the braided pilot's face.

"How would it help us that O is a warlock?" Heero demanded when no answer was forthcoming.

"Because according to this, so is Quatre."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Quatre looked up when Heero and Duo walked into the living room of the small farmhouse they were hiding in. Duo immediately cringed and ducked back into the lightproof room. Rolling his dark eyes, Wufei got up from the floor at Quatre's feet and began shutting all of the curtains so the braided pilot could enter the room.

With the target of his mental tinkering out of reach, Quatre leaned back and relaxed slightly. His eyes made the customary flicker over Trowa in the corner and Heero where he was still standing in the doorframe. He stared suspiciously at Duo for several seconds when the pale brunette edged into the room a second time. Everyone was decidedly nervous around the pilot of Deathscythe since he hadn't eaten anything since his arrival two days prior. It didn't help that Duo's eyes occasionally flickered to their throats.

Sure enough, the moment the braided pilot forced his eyes to adjust to the meager light filtering through the curtains, he began staring at Quatre and Wufei. For an instant, his eyes flared with golden light. Both pilots moved back several paces. He ground his teeth forcibly when he realized what he was doing and looked away, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white. Trowa gave him a sympathetic look. Even Heero's expression softened slightly.

Brushing off their looks, he forced his mind to regain focus and rounded on the blond pilot on the far side of the room.

"Hey, Quatre," he grinned. The Arabian flinched when the other boy unintentionally flashed his fangs. Realizing his mistake, he quickly hid his teeth behind his lips. His feet held a sudden interest to him.

"Yes?" Quatre asked gently. When Duo didn't immediately respond, Heero stepped into the conversation.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a warlock?"

Quatre went white, aquamarine eyes huge. Duo cursed under his breath, directing a vicious look towards the Japanese pilot who seemed immune to it.

"Way to go, Mr. Sensitive," he snapped.

"I'm a what?" he squeaked. He shook his head forcefully, blond hair flying. "I'm just an empath. There must be some mistake." Duo threw another glare at Heero before trying to explain.

"We hacked H's records," Duo said softly. "He… tampered with you when you were still in a test tube. Got the gene from O. Empathy nothing. You're using magic." If possible, Quatre paled further.

"Master O has something to do with this?" Wufei growled.

"Yeah," Duo growled. "He thought he was so tough since he could use magic that he summoned a monster from… I don't know where. Long story short, it was Xellos. He made the Mad Five immortal and then escaped. The bastards are now well over three hundred years old. Everything else that we've seen is due to the war they've been waging on each other since."

Silence ruled in the small room until Trowa summed up all thoughts and emotions in a single word.

"Shit."

"No kidding," Duo sighed, flopping onto the couch. His gold-flecked eyes involuntarily flickered to the side where Trowa was leaning against the wall, gaze shifting to his throat. The taller pilot smirked back at him.

"Don't even think it. It would be a bad idea, Duo," he said.

"What would?" Duo asked, puzzled.

"Gnawing on me," Trowa answered drolly. "Didn't you even wonder why all of the vampires ran away when they saw what we were?"

"I was going to ask you that," Heero said stiffly.

Trowa responded with an enigmatic smile and calmly approached Duo. Silently, he took the braided pilot's arm. Silver flashed through the air, immediately followed by a round of rabid cursing from Duo, who yanked his arm away from the grinning werewolf.

"What the hell are you doing?" Duo snapped, nursing his sliced arm, which had already stopped bleeding.

"I thought a visual would be useful," Trowa responded calmly. He looked at the splattering of blood across the floor. He spat on one of the crimson pools.

For an instant, nothing happened. Then a small wisp of smoke rose from the blood, streaming gently into the air. Intrigued, Duo leaned forward. Trowa instantly caught his shoulder and pulled him back, shaking his head slightly. Before the American could question his actions, his answer appeared before him.

The small pool of blood exploded with the same force as an equal amount of C4.

"You don't even want to see what happens if blood mixes," Trowa chuckled, steadfastly ignoring the incredulous stares leveled in his direction.

"How…" Wufei started, unable to complete the question.

"Thanks to the Mad Five, in tandem the two viruses are combustible," Trowa explained. "Since the virus infecting the werewolves is so much more infectious, vampires are at severe risk of spontaneous combustion. Conversely, the vampires are barely contagious, so we're almost completely safe from retaliation."

"Cute," Duo muttered.

"That's illogical," Heero protested.

"Not really," Trowa said, shrugging one shoulder. "Our immune system can fight off the virus before we're at risk of exploding. Yours cannot."

Heero tried to protest again, but was cut off when Duo suddenly spoke up, violet eyes glittering maliciously.

"Hey, Trowa," he called, grinning wickedly. "How do you feel about licking bullets?"

Emerald eyes widened slightly for a moment before crinkling with amusement. His smirk was mirrored around the room.

"It's doubtful that method of attack will work against Xellos," Quatre said hesitantly. "You said I'm a… a warlock." He looked up with miserable aquamarine eyes. "So how exactly do I fight?"

The other four pilots exchanged quick looks, expressions grim.

"It would appear that you'll have to learn on your own," Wufei sighed. "I was trained to pilot by Master O, and even I don't know."

"I hope you're a quick learner, blondie," Duo muttered. "Because when you face off with Xellos, you're on your own."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Sorry for the delay. I've finally taken this one up again. R&R!


	13. XIII

After Dark

Part XIII

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

After waiting at the safe house for another two days, the pilots realized they had to do something immediately. Quatre hadn't figured out anything and Duo was clearly having trouble with his self-imposed fasting. Trowa had taken it upon himself to find something that the braided pilot would be able to eat. All attempts at feeding him raw meat had resulted in the American vomiting rather violently. Finally, Wufei had witnessed enough gagging and had snuck into the nearest city, breaking into a hospital and stealing a few gallons of blood. To the dismay of the other pilots, Duo couldn't keep that down either.

Desperate to keep his friend alive, Quatre had volunteered to let Duo bite him, theorizing that it was the heparin in the hospital's blood that was making the American ill. Heero had refused adamantly, stating that they did not need another of their numbers as one of Duo's personal slaves. Wufei agreed, albeit reluctantly, to let Duo bite him again. The results were immediate. Duo scrambled to the bathroom where he was noisily sick.

Grumbling something under his breath, Heero left the room to fetch the medical supplies. Stalking crossly into the bathroom, he roughly jammed an IV into Duo's arm and wrapped the limb in duct tape to hold the needle in place. He shrugged one shoulder at the withering look that the American directed at him.

"It would have come out," he said tonelessly.

"What's in this?" Duo asked slowly, gripping his upper arm. It had begun to throb.

"Saline solution with additional amounts of glucose," Heero intoned dryly. "As well as a few base proteins and a ready supply of free amino acids." Violet eyes narrowed.

"It hurts."

"If you want to starve to death, by all means, take it out," Heero snapped. Duo tried to glare but wilted where he was still seated on the bathroom floor.

"We need to do something soon, Heero," Duo said in a trembling voice. "I won't be able to help for much longer."

"I know," Heero sighed. "We'll attack tomorrow night while there are still five of us. Trowa said that the wolves would continue to help us as long as we're fighting. Even if Quatre isn't ready, I still think we stand a better chance with five than three."

"Three?" Duo snapped, coming to attention. "What do you mean, three?"

Heero hesitated. "I thought you knew. When you die, so does Wufei."

"Shouldn't that free him?"

"Normally, yes, but due to Quatre's tampering, you two are too linked."

"Shit," Duo groaned. "We don't stand a chance, do we?"

"No," Heero said honestly.

"Well," Duo said dryly. "If I have to die, I want to at least go down doing something extremely stupid."

Cobalt eyes narrowed. "What are you thinking?"

Duo grinned, deliberately lengthening his teeth and flashing his eyes to pure gold to give himself a truly sinister look.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Trowa stood beside Heavyarms, running a diagnostic. His numerous guns had been revised to hold nothing but tainted shots. He had recruited the other werewolves to help him contaminate modified scattershot rounds with either saliva or blood. No single shot would be dangerous to vampires normally with the pebble-sized bits of shrapnel that would be fired, but if their theory worked out, anyone hit would explode. Heero and Quatre were beside him working on Wing Zero and Sandrock, armed with their standard thermal weapons and in preparation for Xellos, nuclear warheads. Duo and Wufei had been deemed unfit to pilot their Gundams for fear that they could change sides at any moment. Even though they had expected the decision, it still stung their pride. It was suspected to be the reason Duo was creating his own, personalized arsenal.

True to his word, Duo appeared to be preparing to die doing something very stupid. Between himself and Wufei, they had packed four very large duffle bags with explosives that Duo had prepared himself. He refused to tell the other pilots what exactly he had put in the charges, but the manner in which he was delicately handling everything made them suspect that it was extremely dangerous. Wufei almost flat out refused to take his two bags when he saw the American pilot shaking and sweating heavily after assembling a strange looking glass tube filled with three separated layers of liquid. Heero had rifled through all of the bags after that, examining several items curiously before grunting and returning to his laptop. Duo had only offered a few words to Wufei before they left on their mission.

"Do not drop anything. Do not get anything wet, especially the ones with red markings. And for the love of God, if one of the glass vials breaks, run like the world behind you is ending, because it will be."

"What's in the glass vials?" Wufei asked.

"The reason that G kicked me permanently out of the chemistry labs on L2."

"Chemistry lab… wait. Don't tell me that was the incident a few years ago where an entire city block melted on L2 and the entire atmosphere on the colony had to be replaced."

"Okay. I won't tell you. I won't tell you either that on L2 there was only an ounce of it." They had a little over four gallons between them. Wufei paled.

"That's it. YOU are carrying all of the glass vials."

"Shouldn't you two be in hazmat suits?" Trowa asked drolly.

"Wouldn't make a difference in the slightest," Duo responded. Trowa edged away from their duffle bags and gave the braided pilot an unreadable look. "Oh, and stay back until the place blows. You don't want this stuff on your Gundams."

"It will not harm gundanium plating," Heero said, still typing on his laptop.

"Wanna bet?" Duo muttered. Four horrified looks were leveled in his direction.

"What exactly is in those vials?" Quatre managed after a few seconds.

"Don't remember the compound's name right off," Duo admitted. "I figured it out about a year ago. It has twenty seven syllables."

"You're joking, right?" Quatre asked, incredulous. When Duo shook his head, the other pilots made him move the bags away from their Gundams.

On their way out, Duo pulled Trowa aside and handed him a dart gun and a set of empty darts, expression grave. He waited intentionally until the other three were out of earshot before speaking.

"Fill these with your blood. If Xellos turns me again, shoot me," Duo whispered. "Please." Trowa nodded, emerald eyes sympathetic.

"On one condition," the European pilot said softly.

"What?"

"Keep the glass tubes away from me."

Duo snorted, managing to smile at his comrade's joke. "Deal."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Sorry for the delay. I'm suffering from a horrid case of writer's block on this fic. I nearly drove myself nuts trying to get this part out. On the bright side, the story is drawing to a close. Final battle of the fic should be coming up (yeah right!). R&R!


	14. XIV

After Dark

Part XIV

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Duo, huddled protectively under a hooded trench coat, scurried to the opening of the nightclub where the whole mess had started. It was still light out and would be for another few hours. With the nature of the occupants of the underground labyrinth, he expected no resistance or guards yet beyond a few vampires' slaves. Wufei knocked them out while Duo planted a few of his toys. Out of sheer spite, the American infected the slaves to turn them to werewolves. If their masters survived, they were in for a surprise.

Once a divider in one of the glass containers snapped from the gentle movement, causing the first two compartments to mix together. Duo went very still for a moment before planting the device anyways.

"Is that safe?" Wufei mouthed.

"Not for long," Duo returned silently. "We need to hurry."

"You never did tell us what was in there."

"A type of self perpetuating enzyme that acts both as an extreme acid and base, destroying the chemical composition of whatever it touches," Duo mouthed. "Gotta love zwitterions." Wufei only gave him a quizzical look.

"Two things, Maxwell. One: I didn't know you knew biochemistry. And two: such an enzyme does not exist."

"Does now," Duo smirked. "Even makes more of itself as it goes along."

"That's it. I _know_ that's not possible."

"Want to find out?"

"Hell no," Wufei breathed, ebony eyes wide. "How…"

Duo grinned at the halted speech from his companion. "Are we still on time?" he asked, hoping to distract the unnerved Chinese pilot. Wufei quickly checked his watch.

"Barely," he hissed. "We need to move faster. It's almost dark."

"I know the sun is setting," Duo groused. "I can tell. Just like I can tell where… fuck."

"What?" Wufei demanded, freezing.

"Xellos isn't here!" Duo exclaimed. The ebony-haired pilot drew up short, his arm halfway extended towards setting a bomb full of Duo's mystery compound. He ground his teeth audibly and set the charge anyways.

"He'll come," Wufei said with cold certainty.

"Even if he doesn't, I intend to do a lot of damage," Duo ground out, changing attitudes in the blink of an eye. He let loose a blood-chilling grin. "Watch this."

"Maxwell…"

Duo shot off, hand rifling through his duffle bag. He came up with a small black sphere the size of a baseball, affixing it to a wall.

"Done."

"What is that?" Wufei demanded, eyeing the explosive apprehensively. He hadn't seen it earlier when they were packing the explosives. Duo mumbled something so quickly that it was incomprehensible. "Maxwell!"

"I took over a genetics lab last night. I made the werewolf virus airborne," Duo forced out. Wufei paled.

"For the love of Nakaku, tell me you're joking," Wufei breathed, feeling his chest constrict. Duo only offered him a sheepish look and shrugged.

"Look at it this way," Duo caroled. "When it goes off, any vampire within breathing distance will melt into a pile of mush."

Wufei fell silent, realizing the ramifications. If Duo wasn't extremely careful, he would suffer a gruesome death at his own hands. The American seemed to sense his thoughts and he glared balefully.

"Knock it off," the brunette snapped. "If we die, we do it blowing this place sky high." He forced a feeble smile. "Either that or doing something extremely stupid."

"Maxwell, this _is_ extremely stupid."

"Both are good. Right?"

Wufei sighed, declining to respond as he set another charge packed with plastic explosives. He nervously checked his watch again, visibly jerking when he registered what he saw.

"The sun," he hissed.

"I know," Duo returned, hurriedly setting the last of his bombs. He fastened the final glass tube of pure evil to the wall and ran for the exit, Wufei right by his side.

"Too late to escape," a bored voice drawled, drawing them up short of leaping up the stairwell. Duo paled and backpedaled quickly.

"Anyone but you," Duo breathed, scrabbling for his gun.

"Maxwell?" Wufei asked, his gun already out.

"Kentaro," Duo muttered to the Chinese pilot. Seeing the blank look he received in return, he elaborated slightly. "He's the one that messed me up so badly that first time."

"Shit," Wufei said, quickly reassessing the abilities of the muscular man. The man was over seven feet tall and looked to be nearing four hundred pounds of sheer muscle. That added to the vampire aspect made Wufei sincerely consider running for his life.

"You know, boy, that you are too weak to defeat me," Kentaro taunted. "You're younger, weaker and slower. All the things that come with time… you are too new to possess any of them."

Wufei shot the large man several times, his ebony eyes growing wide when the tainted bullets didn't seem to have the effect they had hoped. The wounds closed slowly, seeping melted tissues as it did so, but it healed. Duo had already put his gun away at the beginning of that display and had pulled something out of his duffle. In one hand, he had fisted some small object. In the other was a long curved sword.

"Wufei, run," Duo said. "I'll meet you above if I survive."

"Maxwell…"

"Go!" Duo roared, eyes flashing gold. Driven partially by his own fear and from the sheer force of Duo's mind, Wufei ran for the nearest exit almost a mile from the one being guarded. The seething American stayed to fight, painfully aware that others were emerging from their nocturnal states and would present an immediate threat.

Using the blade in his hand, he made a few well-aimed swipes at innards that while not exactly dangerous, would be rather painful. Both he and the massive guard were aware that he was stalling for time until Wufei was out of range of the toy in Duo's other hand.

Duo let loose a grin that even the bravest of souls would deem eerie. Kentaro stepped back instinctively. Throwing down his sword, Duo braced his right hand with his left and pressed the small button on the side of his toy. A single buster rifle burst shot forward from the device, throwing Duo onto his back and inflicting the enormous bodyguard with partially melted limbs and third degree burns across his entire body. Duo scrabbled for another buster burst, fully expecting Kentaro to get back to his feet. He was shocked when the massive vampire remained motionless. Duo flashed his fangs in a grin.

"Microtechnology rules," he breathed.

Duo struggled to his feet, scowling when he noticed that his blast had seriously burned him as well. He swore luridly as he hurried after Wufei, hearing movement stirring in all directions as he ran towards the surface. He was in too much of a hurry to see what was behind him.

A pale light flickered off of incandescent violet eyes in the darkness.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The moment Duo had reached the surface, he scanned the area for Wufei. He spotted the Chinese pilot in a small black sports car, waving wildly at him. He made a run for the car, trying to escape the blast range of the detonators they had set. A heavy hand fell on Duo's arm and pulled him aside, causing the American to yelp in surprise.

"Let me go!" Duo howled, scrabbling for his gun. He loosed a dozen shots at point blank range into the man's abdomen before realizing who the cloaked figure was. Cursing, Duo changed guns, unloading a clip of bullets Trowa had tainted. Xellos seemed only mildly annoyed with the attack, casually disarming Duo and throwing the smaller man to the ground. Knowing that Xellos's presence was his death warrant, Duo decided to go down fighting. Surging forward, he pushed his last handheld buster rifle against Xellos's lower abdomen and savagely yanked the trigger.

Finally, Xellos seemed to stagger slightly, having some difficulties with his balance with a basketball-sized hole in his gut. It also had the side effect of ticking him off. He kicked Duo in the stomach and picked him up by a fistful of hair. The American watched dejectedly as the hole began to close itself.

"You have made many mistakes," Xellos hissed in Duo's face. "Firstly, you are never to escape once you have been claimed. Secondly, you never attack someone more powerful than yourself." With a quick flick of his staff, he had forced Duo to go sprawling across he ground, a good amount of hair remaining in his other hand. Wufei had looked back, considering helping, but continued driving when he received a firm mental order from the downed American. "It doesn't matter where you send him," Xellos taunted. "He's yours, and you're mine!"

Duo watched defiantly as the staff was brought around again, a blood red stone set in the end of the wood. He hated the staff, silently wishing that someone would shoot it as he was out of bullets. The ruby sphere flared, forcing Duo's mind to submit. He fell to his knees in defeat, gold-violet eyes staring raptly at the dome that would soon turn his mind to mush for the second time. Pain shot through him and he could feel fangs lengthening and his strength increasing. Asphalt crumbled underneath his hands as he curled his fingers. His senses told him that somewhere far off, a vehicle had crashed. Probably the sports car that Wufei had been driving. That thought no longer seemed important. Nothing was important except what he was told to do. Duo had almost given up when he saw Trowa standing atop his Gundam some distance off, a rifle braced against his shoulder. Xellos ignored the distant pilot, knowing that no bullets could hurt him. What he failed to realize what that tranquilizer darts filled with werewolf blood could very well hurt Duo.

Duo crumpled under the single shot, a whimper escaping his throat as he pulled the syringe from his arm. He offered a sickly smile towards his friend for saving him. He hoped that Trowa saw the grateful look before his eyes rolled back his head and he collapsed to the pavement. Barely conscious, he was shocked to see Trowa break formation with Heavyarms to run forward to claim both himself and Wufei in his Gundam's gigantic metal hands before he ran to safety. He was barely in time to avoid the explosion.

Vampires screaming in agony could be heard for miles as buildings and vampires alike melted into slag. Within the center of the blast, Xellos blinked out of existence momentarily, completely avoiding the rain of chemicals. When he reappeared, he looked extremely upset. In preparation for the final battle, Trowa set both Wufei and Duo onto a nearby roof before rejoining the other two Gundams. The three surrounded Xellos while Trowa ordered all werewolves in the area to go after any rouge vampires that somehow survived. The burly wolves could be seen running in and out of buildings, picking careful paths around molten stone.

Buster rifle shots from the Gundams and bursts of unidentifiable light from Xellos covered the area as the four titans battled for power. Quatre was the first out, a particularly lucky blast destroying his navigation systems almost entirely. Gundam down, he backed towards the building where Trowa had placed Duo and Wufei, jumping free from Sandrock to assess his friends' conditions. Behind him, he could hear Heero and Trowa fighting relentlessly against Xellos. Knowing that he was unable to help, he checked the downed pilots. As far as he could tell, Wufei was simply unconscious. Duo, however, was curled into a ball, keening loudly as he writhed, gasping for breath. Suddenly, Duo shot to a semblance of rationality and grabbed Quatre's arms, his golden eyes wild.

"Fight!" Duo huffed, looking rather disoriented.

"How? My Sandrock can't be used," Quatre said.

"Use your head… Fight…" Duo mumbled, quickly becoming incoherent, his breath rattling painfully in his throat.

"I don't understand," Quatre cried.

"Warlock!" Duo hissed. His breath caught in his throat on the final syllable and he shuddered, curling up slightly before going still.

"Duo?" Quatre asked, shaking the brunette's shoulder. "Duo!" A movement to the side caught his attention and he lurched towards Wufei's shivering form, appalled that he had forgotten the Chinese boy. "Wufei?"

Wufei twitched, black eyes slitting open. He blinked fuzzily once before jerking fully awake, a look of abject horror crossing his face. Quatre spun to look behind him, shocked to see how quickly Heero and Trowa had been pushed back, the two Gundams almost upon the building. Regretting the necessity of the action, Quatre ignored Duo's unmoving form and physically dragged Wufei from the rooftop and half-climbed, half-fell down a fire escape. Wufei struggled briefly, trying to climb back up the ladder.

"We have to go!" Quatre said urgently, trying to overpower the delirious Chinese pilot.

"Duo…"

"Is dead! Let's go!" Quatre yelled. He succeeded in tumbling to the ground with Wufei still in his grip. He punched out a window of an old junker in the alley and flung the door open, forcing the raven-haired teen inside. He was hotwiring the car when he heard Wufei muttering angrily in the back. "What was that?"

"Duo's still alive," Wufei said, trying to get out of the car again. Quatre had to alternate starting the car and struggling with his comrade. The blond managed to start the beat up car and floored it, trying to gain distance before they were crushed by an errant step of a Gundam. "Go back! He's alive!"

"Can you hear him?" Quatre asked tensely.

"No…"

"Then how would you know?" Quatre finally snapped.

"Because so am I!"

Quatre stamped the brakes, skidding the junker to a halt. He turned in his seat just in time to watch the building they had been on top of explode in a burst of red light. Blazing rubble rained from the sky. For one brief instant, a black form was visible through the flames, disappearing from sight again when Wing Zero was flung past the smoldering ruins of the building, missing one arm. Alone and out of ammunition, Trowa set Heavyarms to self-destruct and leapt from the hatch, shifting smoothly into lupine form as he sprinted from the scene. Thinking quickly, Quatre shot out the back window of the old car, allowing Trowa to leap in unhindered. The moment the pilot turned wolf landed on Wufei, Quatre floored the car again, trying to get out of range of the blast. Heero stubbornly stayed in position with Wing Zero, trying to corner Xellos into the center of the blast radius.

A mushroom cloud rose into the sky. The leading edge of the explosion repeatedly rolled the old car containing the three escaping pilots. Between the force of the blast and the previous speed of the car, the vehicle was thrown into a mile long, tumbling skid, flinging one of the pilots out the side window just before rolling over him. In the center of the blast, Wing Zero was torn to pieces.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

This part written because I received a random review even though I hadn't updated for awhile. This is why you review. It goads me into doing something. R&R! ^_^


	15. XV

After Dark

Part XV

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

A muffled groan sounded from within the wreckage of twisted steel. Quatre pulled at the seatbelt biting into his flesh and the steering wheel that was pressed painfully into his ribs, trying to gauge how badly he was injured. To his side, Wufei was lying motionless, crammed at an awkward angle under the dashboard.

"Wufei?" he asked softly. He yelped and fought when a rough grip yanked him out of the destroyed vehicle. Quatre kicked at his captor, cursing loudly. "Don't you ever die?"

"Not yet," Heero said drolly.

"How did you survive?" Quatre asked, eyeing the scorched pilot critically. Heero gave him a flat look that clearly said 'half vampire, duh'. He glanced at Wufei where he was still unmoving, resisting Heero as the taller pilot tried to pull him away from the wreck.

"Come on, we need to go," Heero snapped.

"Trowa and Wufei…"

"Will take care of themselves," Heero snapped. "Trowa was thrown from the car. He already dragged himself off somewhere. Wufei isn't of interest to Xellos."

"They're alive?" Quatre asked, hobbling alongside Heero as they ran.

"Trowa is a werewolf, Quatre. It will take more than a car to kill him," Heero panted. "And Duo… was caught in the blast. I don't know where he is or if he's alive. If he is, I'll personally kill him for this mess."

"Don't worry, he's not," Xellos mock whispered to the struggling pilots, taunting them still. Heero shoved Quatre behind him and raised his hands in a defensive posture. Xellos was watching them, looking worse for wear. He was covered in third degree burns and slowly healing gashes, some of which were still deep enough to show bone. He raised his staff against them threateningly, the red jewel intact despite the explosion. The purple haired demon smirked at them. "Whatever you do is useless. The Chinese one, I believe you called him Wufei, is not mobile, even if he is alive. Your little werewolf friend is injured too badly to do anything, although he did manage to poison Duo before uselessly throwing away his life."

_He's contradicting himself,_ Quatre thought. _He said that Duo was alive, then that he was poisoned. Besides, if we're even remotely coherent, we're dangerous. End of story._ He jumped slightly when Heero returned the mental commentary.

_Even if he is wrong about the others, we can't rely on them for help,_ Heero said.

_How are you doing that?_ Quatre asked.

_I'm not. You are. I'll distract him. Figure out something._

"I don't know what you're planning, but it's rather worthless," Xellos commented. The ruby gem at the tip of his staff flared to life, causing Heero to grunt in response and lunge forward, grabbing the rod with clenched fists. Even if Xellos couldn't control Heero, he could hurt him.

Quatre watched them wrestle for the control of the cane, feeling helpless. _Warlock my foot,_ he growled to himself. Feeling like an idiot, he reached one hand towards the battle. His azure eyes closed in concentration. _Heat. I feel heat._ He reached out with something beyond his hands, trying not to allow himself to listen to the battle beyond him. It sounded suspiciously like someone being flung around like a rag doll, and he would place his entire fortune that the person being brutally beaten wasn't Xellos. _It's like the aquamarine depths of the ocean. But it's too bright. Blue fire…_

Something exploded, throwing Quatre into the wall of a building, bouncing his head off the bricks. Dazed, he slumped to the ground.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Heero lunged for Xellos's staff in a maneuver that he knew was rather pointless, but persisted. All he was attempting to do was to distract the purple-eyed monster long enough for Quatre to get off his pampered ass and do something. He very nearly lost his tenuous hold when Quatre erupted in teal flames. A matching conflagration appeared from within the ruby gem at the end of Xellos's cane, growing in strength for a few seconds before the colliding powers detonated with the force of a nuclear bomb.

The explosion threw Heero back and set him on fire, though he ignored his burning hide in favor of dodging the truly furious assault from the much larger demon. Xellos raised the ruined staff above his head, clearly intending to ram the pointed end through Heero's chest. The demon was in tatters, same as everyone else, and he was truly furious about it.

"Die, Yuy! You've been a pain in my ass for years," Xellos snapped.

Before the down stroke could be completed, a furry form slammed into Xellos from the side, sending them down in a tangle of blood, fur, and ear-splitting cursing. Xellos was dragged several yards away by the largest brown werewolf they had ever seen. In recoiling, he slapped a clawed foot across Xellos's face and neck, raking out one eye and a number of major arteries. He continued along the lines of the attack, snapping and slashing at vital bits of anatomy presented within his range. Seemingly invulnerable to Xellos's counter hits and kicks, it almost seemed impossible to get rid of him until he chose to leave. Twice he was shoved back, the pauses in battle only momentary.

The heavy wolf glanced at his colleagues briefly before resuming his assault, trying to convey a message that they clearly didn't get. There was immediately a stalemate. That lock of powers had created a temporary reprieve that Heero tried to use to his advantage. Standing quickly and scanning for weapons, Heero was shocked when he felt a heavy duffle bag pressed into his hands. To his amazement, Wufei stood firm beside him, battered but resolute as he prepared some of the extra weapons that Duo had brought. Heero did a quick tally, astounded by the number of charges at his disposal.

"Where did you get these?" He demanded, still digging through the bag.

Wufei snorted. "When have you ever seen Duo travel with anything less? There are bags like this hidden all over the area."

"That idiot," Heero growled. "Anyone could find these!"

"Yeah, but only we know how to set them off," Wufei countered, surprised that he was defending Duo.

"Where is he, anyways?" Heero asked, bracing the butt of a small buster rifle against his shoulder. The moment Xellos was open for a clear shot, he'd take it.

"I don't know," Wufei admitted, readying a buster shot of his own. Heero swore when the battle in front of him showed no signs of letting up.

"Heero, aim to the left," Wufei ordered, turning his own weapon.

The Japanese pilot didn't hesitate at the order, even though he didn't understand the rationale. Trowa apparently understood, though, and took full advantage of the situation. Rolling onto his back, he used the power of his hind legs to throw Xellos a few yards from himself. Heero and Wufei fired, the twinned blasts knocking large holes in the monster's body and throwing him into a tangled heap. There was a silent moment that was broken by two groans and a growl when Xellos slowly got back to his feet.

"You can't hurt me," Xellos said stiffly. "There is nothing you can destroy that I cannot regenerate."

"Regenerate this," Duo growled behind him.

Xellos felt something hot impact with his back, burning painfully in one of the holes the buster rifles had created. He spun to face the Gundam pilot, astounded that he had managed to approach without his knowledge. He was about to reach out to grab the brunette when he saw what Duo had in his hands. The empty shell of one of his chemical weapons. Xellos disappeared. Duo tossed the glass tube in his hands to the side before the remaining residue melted through the glass. The chemical slag ate through the glass and started its way through the pavement.

"Where is he?" Heero called, limping forward.

"Off cursing the day I stole my first chemistry set, assuming he survived, that is," Duo retorted, sitting down rather heavily in the middle of the street. "How did I survive?"

"I was about to ask you that," Trowa said, coming up to them, bare-ass naked and seemingly comfortable with that fact, supporting Wufei on one side and a still unconscious Quatre on the other.

"I switched out the darts in your gun," Heero answered. "The one you hit him with was filled with a mixture of horse tranquilizer and cobra venom." A moment of silence followed his remark.

"Would you like to explain why before I kick your ass?" Duo asked pleasantly.

"You're showing some of the early signs that I did," Heero stated flatly. "I was hoping you'd fully recover. You may still if you're immune system is as good as you claim. I used the tranquilizer and snake venom to simulate death so Xellos would ignore you."

"And _I'm_ the one banned from labs across the known galaxy," Duo muttered.

"You're surprised about that after creating that goop that's melting a hole straight to the Earth's core?" Trowa asked drolly.

"What? It's only a level eighteen biohazard," Duo protested.

"Duo, there are only four biohazard levels," Wufei said wearily.

"No, there are quite a few more after they started analyzing some of my experiments."

"After saying that, I really don't think you have any right to complain about my use of a tranquilizer," Heero said, pulling Duo to his feet. "Come on. Someone's will be on the way to investigate by now."

"Really?" Duo asked sarcastically. "Come on. We only leveled twenty-seven city blocks. No one will even notice." He swooned slightly, keeping his precarious balance only because of Heero's stolid presence. "How much did you put in that thing?"

"Enough to knock out a bull elephant," Heero said, his tone serious. Duo shot him a death glare that almost put the Japanese pilot to shame.

Still cursing at Heero, Duo hotwired a car that hadn't been destroyed in the chaos, complaining bitterly when Heero wouldn't let him drive. Between Trowa and Wufei, they managed to get Quatre into the back. The five disappeared into the night towards the nearest safe house.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Going to try to get out a few updates on various stories in the next couple of days. Show me that you love me and R&R!


	16. XVI

After Dark

Part XVI

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The five reached the safe house just before dawn, Quatre waking up shortly before they arrived. Finding the house in a pathetic state of disrepair, they had no choice but to stuff Duo into a closet, tiny and filled with cobwebs. That resulted in a great deal of cursing in just about every language known to man. The American apparently knew how to tell someone to perform physically impossible acts on themselves no matter what their nationality. He yelled something in Chinese that Wufei refused to translate, though he did turn bright red. Though it was probably intended to be insulting, whatever the Latin phrase yelled at them meant, Trowa began laughing hysterically. Hysterically for him, anyways, which meant soft chuckling for any other mortal.

Quatre became so curious at their reactions that he tried to mimic what had happened before when he spoke to Heero. He pressed his mind towards his friends as though trying to get a reading of their emotions, but put more energy into his attempt. He was beet red instantly, fighting to withdraw his mind before his blood pressure rose to a lethal level. Wufei had been told to do something that was illegal all over Earth and on every colony, the act including an orgy, a chandelier and superglue. The suggestion made to Trowa was so physically impossible that it was a wonder that anyone could even think of it, let alone perform it. It involved seventeen hairpins, a toaster, a barbell, a clove of garlic and a set of tongs.

"Why am I now afraid of L2?" Quatre muttered. Heero made a face at something Duo was shouting before answering.

"Probably because of his interest in ball bearings," Heero said. "Or at least I'm hoping that he said ball bearings." Duo growled something through the door. Heero actually paused, looking vaguely shocked. "Can you do that with a cheese grater?"

"Do what?" Trowa asked curiously.

"Say it and I'll fry both of you," Quatre threatened. He pounded one fist on the closet door. "Calm down and try to rest. We'll let you out when the sun goes down." Duo snapped something in Arabic. "No, that is _not_ edible." More Arabic. "Neither is that." Something else was called through the door that caused Quatre to clench his eyes shut and shudder. "They don't make those for Gundams."

"You're only encouraging him," Wufei sighed.

Duo went off on another tirade, this time in Spanish. Trowa, being the only one who spoke the language, started sniggering again. Pausing, Quatre tried his best to translate the phrase since he knew a few words Latin based after spending so much time with Trowa.

Seeing his efforts, Trowa cut him off before he could continue that line of thinking. "Trust me, you don't want to know," the European pilot said helpfully.

More Chinese followed. Wufei turned brick red. "Even if you could find a pack of llamas and a sheep, you'd never manage that!"

"This is kind of fun," Trowa murmured, smirking. When he was upset, Duo was apparently very creative, not to mention more than a little perverted.

"Duo baiting," Heero said solemnly. "I like it." He cocked his head to listen to the latest string of ranting. Duo had slipped in a new phrase. "Now, now… That won't fit there." He paused, cobalt blue eyes glinting with mirth. "That's a waste of a perfectly good rubber chicken!"

For another two hours, the four pilots teased the braided pilot before finally leaving to get ready for their next battle. Even if Xellos wasn't done for, the Mad Five still warranted a visit. Needing any and all help they could get, they cracked open the door to the closet and slipped Duo a laptop, that act alone doing much to calm the trapped vampire. Hours of planning later, they decided that there was no way to sneak up on the old scientists. The Mad Five knew of their intentions by now and were probably preparing a defense as they studied. Exchanging grim looks, they decided to do the inevitable. Charge in with guns blazing and do as much damage as fast as they could before the old coots managed to mount a decent defense.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Despite initial protests from Duo, the pilots concocted a solution to his eating while his body tried to decide which way to turn. Steak tartar meant that cow blood would be palatable to even a human's stomach. Similarly, sushi was also safe, so fish blood could be used as a supplement as well. Although clearly not happy about it, Duo accepted his new liquid diet. It stayed down, and he did have to eat after all.

They were up the moment the sun went down, striking hard and fast as they'd intended. Duo whipped up some more of his mystery vials of mass destruction, and for his own amusement, loaded the dangerous chemicals into a bazooka. The remaining mercenary werewolves were dismissed with the order to dispatch any vampire they found alive after the first brutal assault. Knowing their charges were coming for them, the five old scientists split up and tried to go into hiding.

They found G first, the old man holed up in a lab with an assortment of guns and chemicals at his disposal. Duo beat him to the initial assault, which turned out to be the final. He turned his chemical loaded bazooka to blast the old man with the deadly chemicals, watching with absolute glee as the man seemed to melt into a pile of slag under the goop. Unfortunately, it also melted the last foot of his bazooka, leaving the weapon useless.

H was much harder to deal with. For someone who had trained gentle Quatre, he was a paranoid nutcase. He'd somehow managed to find a bunker and loaded the surrounding area with landmines, which naturally led to the loss of the jeep the pilots had commandeered. Seeing a gas mask strapped to his face was the only warning they'd had before he unleashed both tear and sleeping gasses into the small, unventilated area. While the others choked and gagged on the wretched fumes, Heero and H both surged forward, guns leading. Heero took a hit to his leg, but ignored it as he did all injuries, taking more time to aim than the old man had. Duo managed to clear his head minutely enough to land a dagger in the scientist's thigh, distracting him from the real danger from the pilot of Wing. A clean shot to the head ended H's life. Afterwards, Heero had to help his mostly blinded and half coherent comrades outside.

J attempted to overturn the systems on their gundams to use against them, but the pilots stayed well away from the metal giants until they'd managed to override the new programming, a process that took them several days and tries to manage. His virtual attack allowed the five angry pilots to trace him back to his hiding place, and while the others stayed behind to seem as though they were debugging the systems, Duo was gleefully sending in viruses that were demolishing the old man's computers, rendering him unable to track the strayed pilots. Wufei skulked in and cleanly decapitated the mad scientist from behind with his sword.

By request, the other pilots stayed well away from the battlegrounds as Trowa slunk in after S, though they watched avidly from a distance. The reason for their banishment was instantly obvious. The old scientist stood waiting for them, knowing there was little use in hiding after watching his colleagues fall one by one. Trowa approached him calmly, unarmed, and the two stared each other down for several seconds before Trowa began stripping to spare his clothes the rigors of transformation. It was a little more appalling when S began to do the same, no one wanting to see the unclothed vision of a three hundred year old man.

Like his student, S had been infected. Matching Trowa claw for claw, he descended into another form, more lupine in nature. An old gray wolf and a younger, sleeker brown one faced off, black eyes boring into green. For a little while, it looked to be a stalemate as the two circled and slashed at each other. Trowa was younger and stronger, but S had more weight in muscle to protect him from taking a vital hit and more experience fighting in that form. In the end, it was Trowa's youthful stamina and speed that allowed him to suddenly close the distance between them the moment S started to show the first signs of weariness. The old gray wolf had his throat ripped cleanly out in an instant.

O was hard. The moment he saw Quatre, he snarled and raised his arm. An instant later, the blond was flung through a door with third degree burns. Glowering, the smallest blond pilot raised his own arm and unleashed an inferno, blasting the older man through a wall and incinerating both of his arms when he tried to block the attack.

Quatre rolled to the side, his arms and chest burnt severely. Fireball by nature, the blond extended one hand and unleashed an inferno, flames erupted from his palm but O calmly rolled out of the way. A deep brown wolf darted out of the shadows and latched onto one of the warlock's ruined forearms, rolling several times in a fashion unsuited for an animal. Several distinct snaps sounded as bones shattered in the razor sharp teeth. Cursing, O slammed his charred but otherwise intact hand into the canine's side, causing the beast to roll away with a sharp yelp of pain.

The distraction had served a purpose, one that would cause the final scientist his life. Quatre had redirected his attention to his hands, focusing all of his energy there in aquamarine flames. Surging forward to attack, he did the unthinkable. Sorcery was never meant to be hand-to-hand, but the blond ignored the rules and began striking strategically in deadly areas. Throat, abdomen, chest and nose were struck rapidly in that order, ruling out any possibility of the scientist capable of breathing. He staggered back two steps and stared at the blond in hatred with quickly fading eyesight. His lips curled back into a fierce sneer.

"Xellos will end what I have started," he rasped.

"Unlikely," Duo smirked, stepping forward. He chuckled at the writhing figure on the ground before him. "I am Shinigami, now more than ever." The old scientist managed to offer him a glare of pure malice before passing away.

"What do we do about Xellos?" Heero queried.

"You've seen eighteen," Duo drawled idly. "Care to see thirty two?"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

I am SO sorry that it took this long to update. A combination of writer's block and a few problems at work have left me behind in everything. I swear I'm trying to catch up. Please R&R.

Just guess what thirty two is. Come on. GUESS!


	17. XVII

After Dark

Part XVII

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

For a full week, not one of the pilots came within twenty miles of the braided menace that piloted Deathscythe. The reason was perfectly clear. Roughly once every one or two hours, something exploded with enough force to cause whatever dwelling the brunette was occupying to either liquefy, ignite or send shrapnel flying in all directions for miles. Sometimes, it was all three at once. The prospect of melting, fiery, flying wood was more than enough to cause the other pilots to keep their distance. Only the emails from Duo reassured them that he had survived his own insanity. That and the fact that Wufei was still alive after all of the explosions, even if he was twitching like a bunny on speed.

Then the day came. One email from Duo stated a simple line of text that both emboldened and terrified the other four pilots from the enthused madman.

_I got it!_

"Allah," Quatre muttered, eyes threatening to bulge from his head.

"What is it?" Wufei asked, swiveling his head to the terrified blond.

"He figured it out," the smallest pilot squeaked. That caught everyone's attention.

"Thirty two…" Wufei managed. "I've seen eighteen…"

"How do we even know that Xellos is still alive?" Heero broke in.

"O said that he was," Trowa responded blandly.

"And you trust him?" Wufei asked sarcastically. He knew the man better than the other four and didn't think that such a thing could be possible. He had seen Duo's attack and he suspected that O had been bluffing.

Quatre frowned, closing his eyes for a moment, unaware that the other three pilots present were watching him intently as he blindly groped for any aura that resembled the demon's. Aquamarine eyes opened slowly, a faint hint of light shimmering in the half-lidded orbs. "He's alive," the blond confirmed slowly. "And positively furious." He paused again, the light in his eyes flickering brightly once more before fading back to azure. "Duo… has something… purple… and there are tubes… no, syringes." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I can't read his mind clearly. He's deliberately keeping it in a state of constant flux so that Xellos can't see his plans either."

"Then how can you?" Wufei asked slowly. Quatre shrugged.

"I know how his mind works better than Xellos does."

"Sure ya do, Quat!" Duo said cheerfully as he leapt through an open window, cloaked in dense black garments befitting the grim reaper. He didn't even pause when several guns were automatically aimed in his direction before slowly being lowered.

"It's still daylight," Trowa said, the first to lower his gun. The tone of his voice clearly was questioning how he was able to move around. "And you just sent that email from halfway across the world."

"No, I rerouted it from just outside. If I'm correct on just how mad the freak is concerned, he's probably been monitoring our communication," Duo answered with a hidden smirk. "And as far as the sun… lots of dark clothing, even more sunscreen and a great set of shades." His gloved hands started pulling blinds shut to snuff out any hint of natural light. Three of the other four pilots began covering windows when Heero cut them off rather promptly.

"There is a basement," he said drolly.

"Great thinking, He-chan!" Duo cheered, eyes scouring the floor for a trap door. Seeing none, he kicked a threadbare rug to the side. Heero cleared his throat. In front of the Japanese teen was a door that Duo had automatically written off as a closet.

"Baka," Heero smirked. Naturally, Duo ignored the insult.

The braided menace was already out of sight and down the stairs faster than anyone could blink. His voice followed the blurred vision of his form. "Everyone down here!"

Wufei was the first to follow, cutting even Heero off. Whether it was from trust in the brunette's hazardous new idea or Duo's natural pull on his mind, no one was quite sure. Heero was right on his heels, leaving Trowa and Quatre to follow. The blond closed the door behind him since someone preceding him had already found the hanging light downstairs and yanked the dangling cord.

Duo had already shucked his black hooded cloak. Seeing a distinct lack of tables, he casually began unloading his pockets onto the top of a washing machine that had seen better days. On it, they saw two vials of unidentifiable liquids, one red and one purple. A length of rubber tubing sat next to two syringes, one small, and the other enormous. For some reason they didn't quite understand, the large syringe was made of glass, five lines marked off down the length at strange intervals.

"Everyone but Heero, roll up your sleeves," Duo instructed, picking up the length of elastic tubing. "Quatre, you're first."

The other four pilots exchanged bizarre expressions, starting to wonder exactly what the nutcase had been doing in his absence.

"Duo," the blond said nervously. "What are you…"

The braided menace just smirked, his almost psychotic expression cutting off his friend mid-question. He already had Quatre's arm in his left hand, his right pushing up his friend's sleeve, the tube hanging from his pinky finger. The length of rubber was twirled around the blonde's arm just above his elbow expertly, tying it off.

"Needles are sterile," Duo said absently. Aquamarine eyes flickered to the hint of clear fluid contained right next to the plunger. "Heparin," he answered absently to the silent question. "The blood won't clot."

Before Quatre could say another word, he had uncapped the large glass syringe with his teeth and stuck the fat needle into the blonde's arm. To his credit, Quatre didn't even flinch when he saw Duo smoothly draw a measure of his blood up to the first line on an unexplained measuring system. Recapping the syringe, he dropped it into a pocket to keep his hands free. The smaller syringe replaced it immediately, entering the same hole the previous, larger needle had left. This time, the syringe was filled to the tip.

"Blood of the warlock," Duo smirked as he capped the smaller needle and placed it in his pocket, swapping it out with the larger, partially filled syringe. He pulled the tie off of Quatre's arm and turned to Wufei. "Blood of the only human present," he continued.

Wufei almost opened his mouth to protest when he felt his entire body freeze against his command. He could only glare when his left arm rose of its own accord, palm up. Wearing only a tank top, he found his arm similarly tied off as the previously used needle slipped into the inside of his elbow. His blood was drawn to the next mark on the glass syringe, the sharp instrument replaced by the entirely full smaller needle. This time, the blood was pushed into his system. Two strong arms yanked him back, Heero and Trowa glaring at him.

"They don't have the same blood type," Trowa growled. Heero just grunted in silent agreement.

"Doesn't matter," Duo grinned. "Think of Quatre as a special case. Watch."

At the amused response, three sets of eyes snapped from Duo to Wufei, who was beginning to shimmer a pale blue for a few seconds. Scowling, the Chinese pilot yanked the binding off his arm and launched it at the brunette's skull, where it quite naturally bounced off and landed neatly on an upraised knee, the braided boy perfectly content to stand on one leg, Karate Kid style, so that the rubber would land on his thigh instead of the floor.

"Maxwell!" he roared. "What did you…" His temper vanished, brows drawing together in disbelief. "You… you're not there anymore." Duo chuckled as he twisted free of his two captors with ease.

"He bound us, so I figured his blood could unbind us," he said cheerfully. Violet eyes turned to Trowa. "Trowa, afraid you have to be last, Mister Contagious."

Trowa blinked owlishly, tilting his head to the side so that both piercing green eyes could clearly focus on the shorter pilot. His gaze flickered to the two vials of… something… sitting atop the old washing machine. With his body so naturally resilient, he wasn't worried at the thought of blood contamination from either Wufei or Quatre, even if they were carrying dangerous blood as Heero and Duo were. Werewolves were very hard to kill. He volunteered his arm before he was manhandled, simply watching in confusion as the other brunette continued on his unexplained plan. Sure enough, his arm was tied off quickly, blood drawn to the third line on the huge syringe.

"Blood of the werewolf," Duo murmured, almost to himself. He knew the others were hanging on his every word, so he didn't even bother to raise his voice to its normal amplitude as he spoke. He pulled the needle and tourniquet free in one motion, each hand taking on one of the tasks. All four of the other pilots watched him avidly as he approached the two unknown vials. "Blood of the Family Felidae."

"Felidae?" Trowa asked only to be ignored.

The next mark was reached and the mostly empty vial was plunked down, replaced by the unnerving purple solution in the last move of Duo's strange concoction. Duo took a deep breath and started to pull some sort of liquid into the massive syringe, filling it to the fifth and final line. The entire time, he held the fifth drawing perfectly vertical, the violet fluid heavier than the layers of blood remaining settled at the very bottom of the mixture of blood. He exhaled a little shakily, his words so soft that the others had to read his lips to understand what he had said.

"Blood of the Demon."

"_What?_" someone hissed between clenched teeth. With his eyes fixed on the vial in front of him, Duo couldn't see who it was, but from the direction, he suspected that it was Heero or Trowa, possibly both.

"How did you get that?" a low voice demanded, this time loudly enough for Duo to identify the source as Trowa.

"PCR," Duo said, eyes still glued to the purple in the bottom of the syringe in his right hand while he set down the emptied vial in his left. "Polymerase Chain Reaction."

"We know what PCR is," Heero snapped. "Where did you even get a sample?"

Duo's lips twitched in the approximation of a grim smile. He capped the syringe and slipped it into his pants pocket. When Heero started towards him, he raised his left arm to fend him off before the other teen could complete his first stride. Keeping his left hand up, he started to unbutton his jacket and underlying shirt with his right.

"I raked my fingernails down the bastard's side when I slapped him with that level eighteen biohazard. I cleaned my nails and found something fun to play with," Duo said a bit shakily, tossing his jacket to the floor. "Glass tubes then, glass syringe now."

"Duo," Heero said warningly, his tone indicating that he was going to close in again.

"Level thirty two," Duo countered, pulling his shirt over his head. "Or it will be in a moment." No one bothered him about what level it was at that moment.

"How are you going to raise it?" Quatre asked slowly, eyes unblinking.

Duo pulled the syringe out of his pocket, eyes still glued to the viscous purple mass resting at the bottom of the mix of bloods. Taking a deep breath, he shook the syringe violently too quickly for the eye to follow, forcing the red and purple to mix in a flash of luminescence that faded to show only a vial of nearly translucent lavender fluid. The exothermic reaction was hot enough to cause the skin of Duo's hand to start to smoke. He bared his teeth against the heat, but didn't loosen his grip. The knotting muscles of his jaw triggered his teeth to lengthen to full vampire status.

"FUCK!" Heero yelled, lunging for the braided pilot. Duo bolted to the side, flipping the cap off of the syringe and stabbing the needle directly into his heart. He landed heavily on his shoulder and skidded a few feet on the cold cement floor. All Heero had managed to grasp was the tip of his braid, leaving Wing's pilot holding only a hair band. Easily the fastest among the five, Heero dropped the elastic band and was on top of Duo, tearing the burning glass vial out of Duo's hands and flinging it to the furthest end of the basement while the other three pilots watched in horror. The empty syringe shattered against the brick wall, glass tinkling against the floor in shards before the glass began to melt. Heero pulled the American up to a sitting position by his bare shoulders. Duo's head thumped limply against his chest, his unraveling braid slipping over his shoulder to pool in his lap.

Duo's head lolled to the side, violet eyes staring blankly into the abyss. His chest didn't show the slightest flutter of life, his heart still in his chest, his lungs paralyzed. Heero roughly pulled his chin up to see more clearly into his friend's eyes while roughly feeling for a pulse that his desperate fingers could not find.

"Baka," Heero whispered, lowering his head in an effort to hide his expression beneath his unruly hair.

"Heero?" Quatre asked softly, afraid of what he would hear.

"He's dead."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

*Twiddles thumbs and looks far too happy to be sane.* This is fun! Did anyone get level thirty two right? Still guessing, are we?


	18. XVIII

After Dark

Part XVIII

By Mieren

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Pain was the only thing that existed for Duo. There was no light, no sound, and no physical form to even draw breath to scream. It was too hot and too cold at the same time. Duo felt as if he should be sweating while he tried to quell the shaking of limbs that he could no longer sense or move. He wanted the agony to end. He wanted death.

_No,_ he thought blearily. _I don't want death. I _AM_ Death._

He tried to open his eyes before he remembered that wherever he was, he didn't have any. The darkness was absolute. Even with the vampire eyes he'd had before he collapsed, there was nothing to see. Duo scowled at the darkness, more of a mental curse than an actual expression.

_I am death,_ he repeated, bracing his mind and nerves. _I am Shinigami. Death is mine to control._

He reached out with his consciousness, seeking blindly for some semblance of life or even existence. More than anything, he wanted to lash out in vengeance for being forced into a corner. He could only curse his own weakness and the demon that had driven him to take his own life.

_NO! I am not dead yet!_ Duo said to himself in a continuous mantra. _Death was meant for Xellos! He will die! He MUST die! I will not go out alone! I'll take him with me!_

Violet light burst through the blackness, curling around the edges of Duo's body as it existed in his consciousness. It was the same color as his eyes. As Xellos's eyes.

Duo lashed out at the light, trying to dismiss the amethyst luminescence that seemed to connect him to the demon. He wanted to back away from it, to run, but could not escape it any more than he could his own skin. The only way to brush it away was to burn it with a more powerful essence. The only human presence that could banish that kind of evil force was that of a warlock.

_Quatre._

Lost in his own mind, Duo began to search frantically, trying to find his friend in the blackness. There were no shapes in the vast nothingness where his consciousness was trapped, so he decided to forgo looking for his friend by sight. He looked for a color. Both his and Xellos's eyes were violet, like the light that surrounded his so-called form. Quatre had aquamarine eyes. Duo swept out a phantom of his arm, violet wisps following the imagined movement. After the fourth searching attempt, his fingertips seemed to catch onto an azure source of light hidden in the blackness. Duo slowly retracted his hand, watching intently as the sea blue light wrapped around the amethyst, creating a more solid image of his arm.

The aquamarine tendrils of light began to trace patterns down his arm, solidify the image of his body in the darkness. Duo let the light merge with his own, a smile appearing on a face that was taking on a physical presence. Warmth spread through the spectral image of his body, igniting nerves that he had feared lost to the violet agony. Rational thought flooded his mind as the pain entrapping his very essence began to fade.

_Quatre is here,_ Duo said to himself firmly, creating a new focal point for his thoughts. _The biohazard. I am the new biohazard. I reached the new level. If Quatre is here, then the others are too. All but Heero._

Heero had been left out of the melee. Duo had no need of another vampire presence in the violent mess he had made of himself. Quatre had been brought in to hopefully help him maintain his mental faculties. He had almost lost that part of the battle in the chaos of his own making. But now that he had his friend's presence working for him, he could remember what he had intended from the start.

Quatre had been chosen to save his mind.

Trowa's blood allowed him to alter his body in the most extreme possible way to counter a vampire's form. Duo reached out into the darkness again, watching the gossamer tendrils of light sweeping from the translucent form of his arm. He tried to imagine his friend as a wolf. Emerald light trailed from his fingertips, slowly moving up his arm. Though he still didn't have a physical presence of his own, Duo could feel the strain on his nonexistent body. He jumped to the next part of his plan, desperate to finish what he had started before the specifics of his intentions were no longer possible. He had to stabilize his body.

Wufei and the selected feline blood to throw his physical form into what he needed, not a wolf and not a cat. He had to be strong, even if not entirely human. Pain washed through his very soul as he searched in vain. He kept blindly seeking a way back to his body and his friends, refusing to give up when he had come so far. Opal and gold light tipped his nails before falling back into nothingness. The two forms he sought were not the magical, mystical forms of incredible power. The demon, warlock and werewolf influences were too strong for the last two sets of DNA to conquer. He had to do it on his own.

Baring his monstrous and mortifying teeth at the blackness, he grabbed at the white and gold lights together, fighting to bring what he needed for the final steps of his terrifying transformation. The pure whiteness of the first light he was able to catch, he could feel his shifting awareness of his body stabilize. He could feel his bones stop creaking as he forced Wufei's human essence to stop the werewolf from taking his physical form. He could not allow the wolf to dictate his form. Since Trowa was so intent on killing his brethren, he was fairly certain that most werewolves had absolutely no control of their transformations. If he was to fight, he needed that control. At the same time, a human form was weak and he had to press his advantage. Strength spread through his muscles, wiry but powerful, more than a match for the power of a lupine form.

_Not quite human_, Duo thought. He could feel his muscles begin to awaken, tingling uncomfortably and stretched taught. _Not an animal or a demon, either._ He tried to stretch, but nothing obeyed his mind. He couldn't even breathe, his chest burning. A shooting pain blossomed through his chest, crushing and unsteady. Air began to fill his lungs in a different rhythm than his attempts, baffling him for a moment. A pattern began to emerge and he stopped fighting it, waiting as he felt the sharp pains resume. Light began to filter into his eyes, a virtual kaleidoscope of colors and power, echoing clearly from his friends as he became further in tune with them, control and abilities harmonizing with the other pilots. Several images overlapped in his mind, views from distant eyes. There were five distinct views, four of them coming from above, looking down at a still form. He chose an image that was flickering in and out at an angle from the floor looking up through barely cracked eyelids from his body's unfocused gaze. The chill of the floor resonated through his mind as he became one with his physical form once more. A sudden burning pain flared through his heart, liquid fire threatening to overwhelm him.

One last thought flickered through his mind as the agony became absolute.

_Shinigami lives._

#!$!%(^%(#!$!%(^%(

"He's dead."

"Allah, no. Are you sure?" Quatre asked in shock, unable to continue. He reached out his hand to the still body but stopped short, not daring to near the longhaired pilot for fear of infection. Trowa was nowhere near as reserved. The green-eyed pilot lifted Duo's head gently from Heero's frozen hands, scenting the air with a few careful sniffs. His nose wrinkled and eyes squinted at whatever he could determine from the stale basement air. He patted the other teen's cheek a few times as though he were merely drowsing.

"Duo, are you okay?" Trowa asked, burying his nose in his sleeve. Whatever he could smell, he didn't seem to approve of it. His expression, what little he showed in his one visible green eye, revealed a mixture of disdain, unease and utter disbelief. Cinnamon lashes fluttered weakly, responding to the question. Blank violet eyes remained mostly closed, a mere slit visible behind mostly closed lids, unfocused and unmoving from the blank stare into nothingness. Trowa cursed and bounced Duo's shoulders against the cement floor roughly, trying to force him to move if he wanted to avoid bruises along his shoulders and back. After a moment, he slammed the longhaired brunette into the floor again.

"Trowa!" Quatre protested at the rough treatment.

"He's not breathing," the lupine pilot responded tersely. He laid his ear against the braided teen's chest. "His heart isn't beating." Before anyone could respond, he curled his back, hands balled together in the air, and slammed his fists into the still chest beneath him. Before anyone could move, he grabbed Duo's nose and hauled his head back, ready to inflate his friend's lungs. He pulled short, his mouth hovering just beyond Duo's lips. Growling angrily, he cupped both hands around Duo's face and jaw, trying to create a seal to allow him to breathe for the still pilot without actually touching him. After three awkward breaths that barely delivered any air to the still form, he started to unfold his hands to reach for the still chest.

Heero crashed into his side, shoving him back toward Duo's face while he placed his hands over the American's heart. He began pumping firmly, the force of his arms causing Duo's ribs to creak in protest. Given the time to prepare, Trowa quickly found a more effective way to create an airtight cup around the chilled face. Knowing what Duo had done to himself, Trowa was the only one willing to provide artificial respiration. He knew that he was the only one that would have even a chance of surviving if exposed to the biological nightmare that the hyperactive psycho had created for himself.

Unable to do much else, Quatre focused his mind, trying to feel out Duo's thoughts. If possible, he wanted to know if the downed brunette knew what to do to bring himself back to life. Wufei just looked at the group of them for a moment and vanished up the stairs. He returned after a minute and change, holding two important items. The first, he handed over to Trowa, a CPR face shield. The werewolf flipped it open and across Duo's face expertly, perfectly ready to resume breathing the moment Heero stopped his round of chest compressions.

Heero paused, Trowa breathed, and Wufei stepped into the mess, shoving Heero onto his butt. The Japanese pilot looked apoplectic, trying to scramble back into position, but he was shocked senseless when Wufei leaned over the still form, slamming a large needle into his chest.

"Wufei? What…" Quatre stammered. The Chinese pilot smirked.

"Epinephrine," the raven-haired teen explained. "We don't have a defibrillator."

"That may not work on him," Heero groused, ready to resume his half of CPR.

Whatever Wufei had intended to say was cut off when Duo drew a harsh rasping gasp of air through pale lips. He forced it back out with a weak, dry cough. With very slow, stiff movements, he reached out with one hand, fingernails curling against the floor. The tiny scraping noise, completely inaudible in normal circumstances, seemed to screech in the silence. His muscles jerked convulsively beneath his skin, the meager actions apparently draining every ounce of strength left in his abused body. Every fraction of an inch seemed to take immense concentration and energy, like he was trying to pull a butterfly's wing through drying clay without tearing it. Violet eyes closed, the meager action causing a muscle in his cheek to spasm. When his cheek stopped jerking, he opened his eyes again. This time, the violet orbs were brighter. His pupils suddenly stretched into vertical slits, the amethyst tint flared into a fiery glow.

The sudden light in his eyes heralded an immediate, violent change from his prior motionless state. Duo rolled into a position that would alarm even a contortionist, his shoulders and sternum pressed against the floor, his stomach facing a wall and his rump and feet still braced firmly on the concrete. Bringing his palms up to place beside his shoulders. Duo slowly pushed his upper body into the air, stretching his back into a tight arc, his hips and legs pulling into alignment. Drawing his feet beneath him, he started to rise, staggering briefly only to be caught by Heero and Trowa both. He stretched while he still had their support, yawning deeply. The action caused him to flash wicked fangs as he inflated his lungs for the first time since his collapse. His tongue lolled out over his teeth, causing the longhaired teen to pause briefly. When a quick sweep of his tongue didn't give him the information that he was seeking, he ran his fingers across his teeth, noting that the canines were still elongated like a vampire's, but now his bicuspids were longer and pointed as well. He accidentally nicked one finger, jerking his hand back to stare at the small drop of blood beading on his fingertip. He ran his tongue across his skin, clearing away the blood with one rasping sweep to see how badly the digit had been torn. The wound had already stopped bleeding, the faint scar fading away even as he watched. Ignoring the instantly healing flesh, he stuck out his tongue a bit and flicked the end with his fingers. He winced a bit at the sharp tips on his nails, but persisted until he confirmed that his tongue was a bit different. It was longer, flatter and rougher. A cat's tongue.

"Weird," Duo said in a slightly odd cadence, working out his voice around the altered muscles in both his tongue and throat. He wrinkled his nose when he realized that he could have easily skewered his tongue while messing with it. Luckily, his tongue hadn't been torn the same way his fingers had. His teeth and nails were both sharper than scalpels and had passed through his calloused fingertips easier than a blowtorch through melted butter. "This will take some getting used to."

"You shouldn't have done anything that you'd have to get 'used to' in the first place," Heero snapped, bypassing the fact that Duo had only been referring to his a few cosmetic changes while blatantly ignoring the fact that he had almost died.

"I knew it would work," Duo chuckled in a slightly deeper voice. Hearing the hints of baritone rumbling in his throat, he couldn't help grinning widely around his vicious fangs. It sounded somewhat evil, which suited him just fine. It was somewhat befitting for his nickname of Shinigami. He received four glares in return.

"You expect us to believe that?" the Japanese pilot snarled. "You stopped breathing!"

"I knew you guys would help me. After all, I'm cute."

"This isn't a fucking joke!" Heero bellowed. "You could have killed yourself!"

"I tested it," Duo grinned, seeming to take great pleasure in causing his friend's blood pressure to shoot into the stratosphere.

"How do you even test something like this?" Wufei asked, deliberately cutting in before Heero completely lost his temper.

"Human analogues," Duo said, elaborating when his answer received several disbelieving looks. "Pigs. Their protein structure is similar to humans."

"Wait, wait," Trowa cut in, stopping Heero's incipient rampage. "Are you telling us that you were creating were-pigs?"

"Of course," Duo snickered, eyes glittering wickedly. "The rats kept exploding." This time, no one was able to stop Heero from going off the deep end.

"YOU USED SOMETHING ON YOURSELF THAT CAUSED LAB RATS TO _EXPLODE?_"

"In my defense, the pigs didn't explode," Duo quipped. "Well, not on their own, anyways. I had to blow them up myself with rather intense and entirely unstable compounds with enough force to cause them to detonate areas up to a half mile radius." Heero looked ready to either throttle him or explode himself. Duo couldn't help himself. He just had to nettle the Japanese pilot a bit further. "After all, they were technically demons by that point."

That did it. Heero lunged at the braided lunatic, intent on ending the idiot's life now that he was no longer in danger of actually dieing. Duo easily danced out of his reach, his long hair flying everywhere now that it was completely loose from his usual braid. The pilot of Wing Zero made a grab for the chestnut strands to secure his grip on the hyperactive madman, missing just as badly as he had before. Even Duo's hair seemed able to evade his grasp. When his fingers actually locked around something substantial, Heero found only a piece of cloth, Duo having used his torn jacket and shirt as projectile fodder. All attempts to catch the half-dressed pilot failed as the spastic fruitcake consistently moved out of his destructive range, incredibly fast considering that he had barely come back to life. He preempted the next attempt on his life by merely leaping half way across the basement, landing lightly on the balls of his feet, the muscles in his calves rippling quite visibly through his pants. Green eyes locked onto the powerful limbs instantly.

"Oh, God" Trowa said with a curled lip, his earlier suspicions confirmed. He had forced himself to remain calm earlier when even he had smelled what Duo had done to himself, not wanting to admit even to himself what he scented. Now that the longhaired pilot was showing every sign of surviving his own insanity, Trowa allowed his temper to show. This time he was the one to shove the moronic pseudo-scientist against the wall, succeeding only because Duo's attention was still fixed entirely on Heero. "Are you out of your mind?" he yelled. "You CAN'T mix vampire blood with werewolf!"

"Don't forget demon," Duo quipped, easily slipping out of his grasp. He carefully watched Heero and Trowa both to see who was going to try to remove his head this time.

"And warlock," Quatre muttered, momentarily forgetting to stay out of the argument. Luckily, the three brunette pilots were too ready to start a small war to worry about him for more than a split second.

"One more," Duo said, winking at the blond before he had to dodge Heero yet again.

"And Family Felidae," Trowa finished, repeating a previous bit of information offered up by the lunatic, eyes narrowing. "Panthera leo?" he asked, suspicious of the particular genus and species the maniac had chosen. A loud guffaw answered his question in lieu of words. Rather than explain, the longhaired maniac uttered one name.

"Catherine," Duo confirmed with a wink.

"Lion," Trowa elaborated for the others. "Family Felidae. Feline. Panthera leo. Lion. He added a lion's blood to the mixture after mine, then Xellos's. Probably to replace canine with feline." Duo nodded to verify the theory. "Catherine must have given it to him. I knew I recognized that particular scent."

"Poor pooch," Duo taunted, his tongue flicking off of the tip of his teeth. "Don't like the pretty kitty?"

Green eyes narrowed slightly at the teasing, but Trowa was expertly cut off before he could offer an irate response.

"Please tell me you aren't going to start marking your territory," Wufei grumbled, deliberately using a volume that all of the other pilots could hear him, but ultimately aiming the insult at the two lycanthropes. Trowa gave him a frosty look. Duo looked ready to call him out over the comment when the Chinese pilot continued, this time targeting the American specifically. "And don't puff up at me. You'll get lost in your hair and you'll never be seen again." He received a dirty look for his efforts.

Trowa chuckled suddenly, shaking his head with just enough force to cause his bangs to shift over his other eye. "I shouldn't have growled," he said softly, looking anywhere but at Duo. "It's just…"

"The feline thing?" Duo asked, returning the sheepish grin. The new scent must have riled his friend, and he hadn't even bothered to warn him. "Same here. Sorry, man."

Trowa glanced up sheepishly. "This is new to you, not to me."

"Can we just both admit to being idiots and drop it?" Duo offered.

"Milo. Otis. Drop it," Wufei cut in.

"Milo and Otis?" Duo asked, arching one eyebrow at the Chinese pilot.

"Would you prefer Garfield and Odie?" Quatre offered with a look that was almost innocent.

"Would you like to become a scratching post?" Duo countered, completely unable to hide his borderline evil smirk. "And now I really have to wonder… Exactly what TV shows have you two been watching?" The poor blond barely managed to duck his head before his cheeks could begin to flush. Wufei gave him a dirty look.

"We should consider teaming up to attack," Trowa suggested, deliberately cutting off the impending tirade before it could truly become a dog and cat fight. Duo just snorted loudly, not even noticing when he ran his newly flattened tongue over an eyetooth.

"I'm Shinigami," the longhaired brunette said solemnly, violet eyes hidden behind his bangs. "Xellos knows what he started with me. Therefore… we should find something else and blow his ass into the stratosphere." He took a deep breath, tilting his head back, eyes and mouth open to the heavens. "Death shall not kneel to it's own name."

_I am Shinigami. I am still alive._

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To Be Continued…

And, yes, I am evil.


End file.
